[Free Lance-Star] America in motion: 'Ragtime' aims for the heart

GAIL CHOOCHAN for The Free Lance-Star | Apr 5, 2023

It’s been a while since Riverside Center for the Performing Arts has had a large-scale production on its stage. Think “Les Misérables” or “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” or in recent memory, “Bright Star.” And what better way to roll out its 25th anniversary season than with “Ragtime,” a show that’s also hitting its own 25th milestone.

Just last week, stars from the original Broadway cast — including Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald — reunited for a one-night-only benefit concert in New York. Even if they weren’t lucky enough to catch that performance, local theatergoers have time to experience this epic heartbreaker, which is onstage at Riverside through early May.

“Ragtime,” based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, transports audiences back to the turn of the century to a country on the cusp of exciting change. An influx of immigrants are coming to America in search of a better life, shiny Model T Fords are coming off the assembly line and people are captivated by celebrities and the intoxicating sounds of ragtime.

With a book by the late playwright Terrence McNally, “Ragtime” offers a continually shifting portrait of America during the early 1900s. Scenic designer Frank Foster frames the action within the immigration center at Ellis Island, with the Statue of Liberty appearing in the distance through the window.

The musical is seen through the lens of three diverse societies in various parts of New York, in various stages of pursuing the American dream: the white upper class in New Rochelle; the Black community in Harlem; and an immigrant family in a Lower East Side tenement.

Their distinctions are sharply on display during the vigorous opening number, as the groups are introduced and carefully eye each other as they walk around in circles. As their lives intersect throughout the course of the story, some of them find common ground and discover that they’re not so different.

“Ragtime,” which explores their struggles and successes, is a powerful theatrical piece with themes that resonate today. There’s Tateh, the immigrant father from Latvia who’s desperate to provide for his young daughter. And there’s Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Black pianist who faces racism, social injustice and unspeakable loss, which ultimately leads him on a destructive path.

This musical is a hefty one, with much to unpack thanks to multiple narratives and 30 musical numbers featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. With meticulous direction by Patrick A’Hearn, this production does not miss a beat.

Every role has been perfectly cast, from the leads to the littlest performers — and when they’re all assembled for the big company numbers, get ready for some roof-rattling vocals. It’s quite a moment to see the cast belting out these grand songs, even if it was difficult to hear the lyrics at times.

Jacquez Linder–Long commands the stage with his searing performance as Coalhouse, a man who feels he’s on top of the world in life and love, before having it all ripped away. Nicole Vanessa Ortiz is absolutely mesmerizing as Sarah, his true love and mother of his child. The aching lullaby “Your Daddy’s Son,” conveying Sarah’s guilt and pain after abandoning her child, is powerfully affecting.

Coalhouse and Sarah’s story rises above the rest and is the most dramatic and heartbreaking. If any song deserves a mid-show standing ovation, it would be Linder–Long and Ortiz’s incredibly stirring performance of “Wheels of a Dream.”

Adrianne Hick, who starred in Riverside’s “Bright Star,” is also radiant here as Mother, a woman who wears her heart on her sleeve and finally finds her voice after living a sheltered life in New Rochelle. Mother’s unfeeling husband, known simply as Father, was not so happy with the idea of her taking care of Sarah and her baby. On the other side of the spectrum is Alan Hoffman’s warm and easy-going Tateh, who makes Mother’s scenes with the single father all the more special.

One of the musical’s biggest highlights is the emotionally charged ensemble number “Till We Reach That Day,” lead by Kadejah Oné as Sarah’s Friend. It’s a stunner.

In the capable hands of this top-notch cast and crew, Riverside’s production of “Ragtime” hits home.