By Ashlei Havili Thomas
Ragtime at the Utah Shakespeare Festival is a show performed once in a decade in Utah. Based on the E.L. Doctorow novel of the same name, Ragtime deals with so many of the same issues that we face in the United States today: anti-immigrant sentiments, classism in the American Dream, racism, anti-Semitism, and many more. Paired with the music style of Scott Joplin, this musical is a hard-hitting classic, transporting you back to the turn of the 20th Century. Please take the time to see this rarely performed show at one of Southern Utah’s premiere theatre companies. The rich music, costumes, and set in Ragtime come together to provide a surreal experience unlike anything else you will see onstage this summer.
Ragtime interweaves three storylines about three different worlds. First is Father, Mother, and Younger Brother, a well-off white family in New Rochelle, a wealthy neighborhood outside of New York City. Next is Harlem and its thriving black community, headed by professional piano player Coalhouse Walker Jr. Last is Tateh and his daughter, Latvian immigrants who try to escape the slums of New York City and build their American Dream. In true Doctorow style, these fictional character’s stories are interwoven with historical figures such as Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, Henry Ford, and many others. This musical is all about the choices we make, how we choose to fight and the many dreams (fulfilled or not) that shape our lives.
Melinda Pfundstein as Mother is instantly relatable to every woman in the audience. Pfundstein creates a clear character arc for the audience to follow, from her opening lines in “Prologue: Ragtime” detailing how content she was in her life to “Back to Before” where she expresses her determination to not settle for safe roles and continue to grow and seek out her own happiness. The sentiments and feelings expressed by Pfundstein hit hard, especially in a state where many women are stay at home mothers. Another wonderful female lead is Sarah, played by Daria Pilar Redus. Pilar Redus brings everyone to tears with “Your Daddy’s Son” and holds the audience’s heart in her hands the entire show. Aaron Galligan-Stierle’s Tateh is iconic as a struggling single father trying to provide the best life for his daughter. Galligan-Stierle and Zoe Galligan-Stierle (The Little Girl) play off each other so well, bringing the audience with them on their struggle to make their American Dream. Coalhouse Walker Jr. is the character most people remember from the show for good reason, and Ezekiel Andrew fills those shoes extremely well. Andrew makes Coalhouse’s search for justice and the American Dream palpable and the devastation when those dreams are shattered is distinctly felt by the audience.
This show would not be possible without the large ensemble needed for the show. Though this is proven numerous times throughout, “Henry Ford” is a wonderful example of the cohesion of the ensemble, with every person moving as a part of the whole to create a wonderful, moving tableau.
Jo Winiarski does a splendid job with the set design, creating a cutout of the insides of a piano through which we can see the projected backdrop. This also creates two distinct areas of the stage, which are used to make different locales within the show. The use of moving stairs to create different scenes was also well used, becoming ships, baseball stands and much more. The projections, designed by Yee Eun Nam on the backdrop also lend a great deal to the scene, with newspaper headlines, Ellis Island and many other helpful pieces being projected so the audience knows exactly what is going on. Keenon Hooks’ choreography was the perfect blend of sentiment and spectacle, creating this slightly larger than life canvas without losing the realness of the play. All of this was under the direction of Brian Vaughn. Having loved this show for a long time, there were clear directorial choices made by Vaughn that refreshed ideas and themes in the show that this reviewer had never seen before. Vaughn wraps the whole show in circular fashion, starting with an unused piano and starting “Epilogue: Ragtime” the same way. This show is no small feat, and the designers, directors and those on the production team do a wonderful job making this show one you will never forget.
Ragtime at the Utah Shakespeare Festival takes a smooth, syncopated rhythm and mixes it with phenomenal performance and production to create a classic that will be talked about for the next several years. This is a hard, sometimes uncomfortable show, with many themes young children may not understand. This is not to say I do not think children should see it; it may require conversations some parents are not ready to have with their children. This play deals with violence and hatred, it is not an easily digestible show. It is, however, one that is extremely worthwhile and will leave you with introspective questions to answer. Please do not miss this rare treat of a musical and go see Ragtime this summer.
Utah Shakespeare Festival presents Ragtime, with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow.
Randall L. Jones Theatre, 35 S 300 W, Cedar City, UT 84720
June 26-September 11, 2021
Tickets: $39-80
Contact: https://secure.bard.org or 1 (800)-PLAYTIX
Utah Shakespeare Festival website
Utah Shakespeare Festival Facebook page
Ragtime Facebook Event
I took my wife and daughters to see this play at the Schubert Theater is Los Angeles opening week, 1997. I bought the CD … played and sang with it several thousand times.(at least). I’ll try to be quiet next week in Cedar City.