Ragtime, the sprawling musical adapted from E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel of the same name, would seem to be the kind of production that Argenta Community Theatre would studiously avoid. After all, the musical, which debuted on Broadway in the late 1990s, has an enormous cast of characters covering three distinct groups – a wealthy white family in New York, African-Americans in Harlem and immigrants disembarking on Ellis Island – and includes real-life characters from Harry Houdini to Emma Goldman to Booker T. Washington.
Argenta’s production of Ragtime uses its modest stage to its advantage. With a live orchestra hidden out of sight and a number of striking performances, Ragtime’s parade of early 20th century life doesn’t feel slight or cheated in this staging directed by Vince Insalaco. The program notes that this cast of Ragtime numbers a whopping 35 with a crew of over 50. The show is not dragged down and instead moves at a steady and involving pace, an impressive feat considering the number of scenes, moving from Ellis Island to Atlantic City and many other locations. It also has to be said that Ragtime has perhaps the strongest cast of children performers to hit a stage in this area in quite a while.
Jeremiah Herman is nothing short of magnetic as Coalhouse Walker Jr., the wizard of ragtime piano music and later tortured figure of racial injustice. The “Sarah Brown Eyes” duet between Coalhouse and Sara (played with heart wrenching emotion by Satia Spencer) is moment of beauty (and sadness) that so few shows are able to reach.
Greg Robinson gives an outsized performance of Tateh, the immigrant artist with a daughter he can’t lose because they are tied together by rope. It’s a daring turn that could have gone off the rails and yet Robinson holds it together and makes us feel his character's highs and lows. Karen Q. Clark’s Mother is the emotional center of Ragtime and she has quite a few lovely solos during the evening.
The costumes by Shelly Hall and the two-tier, open space set by Jimi Brewi (dominated by a painted American flag by William Greenup) help set the confident tone. Other than some muddled staging toward the end, Ragtime is a rich experience, showing how through incisive collaboration theatre can illuminate our troubled past that resonates so strongly in our present.
Ragtime continues onstage, 7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, at Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock. For ticket information, call (501) 353-1443 or visit argentacommunitytheater.org.