The epic 1998 musical “Ragtime” is one of the most daunting challenges any local theater might undertake.
Boulder’s Dinner Theatre, the first in our area to even try, rises to the challenge with a vital assist from Denver’s black Shadow Theatre Company. The result is a landmark achievement that could only have come through collaboration.
“Ragtime” sets to song E.L. Doctorow’s sprawling tale of turn-of-the-century America through three intersecting families: WASP, post-slavery black and Jewish immigrant.
In its miraculously personal stage adaptation, “Ragtime” captures the era in all its complexities: The emergence of cities and new technologies, robber barons, racism, separatism and the rags-to-riches optimism that caused the huddled masses to flood the land of unequal opportunity with hope. And all these bittersweet contradictions are expressed in the new music of the age: ragtime.
This is storytelling at its finest.
Tateh begins as a penniless Latvian immigrant whose only skill is his art; he ends as a rich silent-film director. Coalhouse Walker begins as a comfortable Harlem ragtime piano player who even owns his own Model T until a racist act transforms him into a vigilante terrorist. In the reversal in fortune between these two men, “Ragtime” captures the shifting class structure of 1906 America.
Representing the intransigent status quo are the white couple artfully called only Father and Mother, the universal, idle wealthy who stay that way only by virtue of their skin color. Lending historical and narrative weight – and some amusement – are figures such as Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan and Booker T. Washington.
Doing “Ragtime” justice requires every cog in director Michael J. Duran’s assembly line to perform optimally, and there are no breaks in the line. It starts with an impeccable cast, led by the superb trio of Shadow founder Jeffrey Nickelson as Coalhouse, stalwart vet Wayne Kennedy as single dad Tateh and the magnificent Shelly Cox-Robie as Mother.
Each infuses this tale with heartbreaking humanity. Coalhouse seeks justice but can’t find it anywhere, and Nickelson makes his mad leap into vengeance sadly relatable. Cox-Robie is indelible. Left for long periods by her adventure-seeking, bigot of a husband, Mother makes courageous, maternal choices that make her a precursor of the modern woman.
Leading a stellar support cast is the vocally gifted Brandon Dill as Younger Brother, a white man who joins Coalhouse on his terror rampage. Joanie Brosseau-Beyette infuses “Chicago”-style levity as Evelyn Nesbit, a real-life teen starlet whose millionaire husband murdered her lover atop Madison Square Garden. That made for the trial of the century – just six years in.
Six Shadow actors complement this great ensemble, notably the golden-voiced Reynelda Snell as the maid whose infant is taken in by Mother, and Dwayne Carrington as Washington, who negotiates with Coalhouse.
Linda Morken’s costumes and Nicholas Kargel’s innovative lighting help bring this century-old world to life again. Amy Campion’s smartly modest set consists mostly of hung cloth strips containing excerpts from Doctorow’s text.
The sad message in his words is that anyone can get lucky in America. Just as easily as anyone can get himself killed.
The unusual score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Abrams is narrative in style, populated equally by soft ballads and stirring anthems such as the climactic “Make Them Hear You.” But most memorable are departures such as the danceable “Getting Ready Bug” and the comic baseball ditty “What a Game.”
Terrence McNally’s gritty book doesn’t stray from uncomfortable issues, such as the use of the “n-word,” labor strife, child solicitation, hate crimes, arson and police brutality.
This all may be unfamiliar territory for dinner-theater audiences, but they will be richly rewarded for their brief abandonment of happy fare. “The Sound of Music” will be here soon enough.
Where else are you going to get a history lesson, a life lesson and an artistic lesson … served with pie?
“Ragtime”
MUSICAL|Boulder’s Dinner Theatre, 5501 Arapahoe Ave. |By Terrence McNally (book); Stephen Flaherty (music); Lynn Ahrens (lyrics); based on book by E.L. Doctorow |Directed by Michael J. Duran|Starring Wayne Kennedy, Shelly Cox-Robie and Jeffrey Nickeslon (Leonard Barrett after May 7)|THROUGH MAY 26 |7 p.m. Wednesdays, 7:45 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 1:45 and 7:45 p.m. Sundays (dinner 90 minutes before)| 2 hours, 55 minutes|$32-$53|303-449-6000
or bouldersdinnertheatre.com
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–John Moore
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
RUNNING LINES WITH … ROGER L. SIMON: The veteran “Tuesdays With Morrie” star talks with Denver Post theater critic John Moore.listen at denverpost.com/theater
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