![]() This was Carr’s debut on the Moonlight Stage. The third lead was Geno Carr as Tateh, an immigrant from Latvia. Brown was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in MoTown: The Musical. He showed great range in songs like the bouncy “Getting’ Ready Rag”, the powerful “Justice” and the melancholy “Sarah Brown Eyes”. ![]() His voice was a perfect blend with Brooke Henderson, who played Sarah, the mother of Coalhouse’s child. Interestingly, 20 years ago he was the understudy for this role at Moonlight. was powerful in a role that seemed to be designed for him. Charl Brown’s performance as Coalhouse Walker Jr. But the key to this musical was the amazing performance by the Ragtime Cast of 38 talented performers. A Model T even appeared for several scenes on stage and costumes and wigs were appropriate for the period and personalities. Large movable staircases rolled around the stage, with assistance, to become a multitude of things like stairs for Mothers home or the bridge of a ship Admiral Perry and Father were sailing on or the stairs leading to Ellis Island Tateh and his daughter and other immigrants walked on. The large screen in the back of the Moonlight Stage was continually filled with an array of images appropriate to what was happening on stage, such as a picture of Ellis Island when Tateh was singing about arriving to America or images of the factory conditions of this time period when activist Emma Goldman was singing. Cohen and Managing Director Mike Bradford. ![]() Assisting Vaughan with the production is Scenic Designer Kevin Depinet, Costume Designer Santo Loquastro, Lighting Designer Jennifer Edwards, Sound Designer Jim Zadi, Projections Designer Blake McCarty, Wig & Make-up Designer Peter Herman, Costume Coordinator Heather Megill, Properties Coordinator Bonnie Durben, Stage Manager Stanley D. Returning for her 58th production with Moonlight Productions is Elan McMahan as Music Director and Conductor, directing the 25-piece Ragtime Orchestra. Returning to Moonlight to direct Ragtime the Musical is John Vaughan, who has more than 400 productions to his credit. Morgan, Henry Ford, Admiral Perry, Emma Goldman and several more, all filling the audience in with historical information about the changes underway in the early years of the 20th century and the role they play in all of this.īrooke Henderson (Sarah) and Charl Brown (Coalhouse Walker Jr) sing about their dreams for the future People like Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Along with all of this, a variety of historical figures will appear, also playing a role in dealing with the “American Dream” theme. Moving throughout the musical is the theme of “striving for the American Dream”, whatever that dream represents to each individual. It tells the story of three groups of people African Americans from Harlem, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician upper class suburbanites, represented by Mother and her white upper-class family from New Rochelle, New York and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. The musical is set in the early 20th century New York City. Ragtime was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning 4 but losing out to the Lion King for Best Musical and was also nominated for 13 Drama Desk Awards, winning 5, including Best Musical. The musical had its world premiere in Toronto in 1996 and officially opened on Broadway in 1998, opening at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. Ragtime the Musical is from a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and is based on a 1975 novel by E.L. The leads need to be able to handle a range of songs for the show and there is no doubt that the leads for Moonlight’s production can handle this as they, in this reviewer’s opinion, each performed what should be considered for award winning performances. The musical is emotional, surprising, tense at times and presents topics that are as relevant today as they are to the time period the musical is set. Ragtime the Musical is a big performance, with a big cast, a big orchestra, big voices and a big thematic development for the show. ![]() ![]() An immediate standing ovation for the performance as the final scene ended and rousing applause for various performances throughout the show showed the audiences response to the talented performers and the production everyone had just seen. If that is the case, this is a do not miss performance from Moonlight Stage Productions and Ragtime the Musical is a must see. If there is one good sign for the success of any musical production, it is the audience’s positive reaction to the performances on stage and the immediate response at the end of the performance. ![]()
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