'Ragtime' Themes Relevant To 2016 Political Climate
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
While the musical “Ragtime” is set in the early 20th century, the themes in it are just as relative today – immigration, racism, love, relationships and change. Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts is presenting the show through July 9. In “Ragtime,” Tony Humrichouser plays Tateh, a Jewish Latvian immigrant that arrives in America with his daughter after his wife’s passing. “He’s living the American dream. He starts in the tenements and then works his way up and through a plot of challenges and a lot of racism, a lot of adversity. It’s very topical with what’s happening now in the world. The show takes place in 1906, and here we are in 2016 – 110 years and the same story just a different decade, a different century,” Humrichouser said. Humrichouser is in his 23rd year at Wagon Wheel, having been in or directed over 50 productions. He grew up in Detroit, Mich., and now resides in New York City where he works as a director and actor. Erica Durham, originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., just graduated from Penn State University. In “Ragtime” she plays the role of Sarah. “Sarah’s kind of a very complicated character. She’s in love with Coalhouse, who is a ragtime piano player, and it ends up that she ends up leaving him because he’s cheating on her, unfortunately, and she has a baby by him, and that sort of takes off events with her and Coalhouse and whether or not they’re going to continue to love each other and be together and what their American dream is,” she said. Humrichouser said that there are three different groups in “Ragtime.” “There are the affluent families from New Rochelle (N.Y.) that represent the people who have made it in America. There’s the African-American community that are dealing with their own challenges, and then there’s the immigrants who are dealing with their own challenges,” he said. “These three groups are anchored by real historical characters. You have Stanford White, you have Henry Ford, you have Emma Goldman, Booker T. Washington.” The historical figures are all iconic characters for the communities. They kind of weave and tell the history of what is happening in the world into “Ragtime,” Humrichouser said. “So it’s a historical drama, with beautiful storylines that are fictional,” he said. Based on the 1975 novel “Ragtime” by E.L. Doctorow, Humrichouser said the novel was very popular in the 1980s. A film version was made in the late 1980s that was incredibly successful, he said, and then went to sleep until a concept album was recorded in 1995. The musical had its world premiere in Toronto in 1996, and then made its way to Broadway. It had a revival in 2008, Durham estimated, and that was successful. “There’s been a concert version at Lincoln Center, and, as a matter of fact, they just announced they’re going to be doing a concert version at Ellis Island this summer,” Humrichouser said. He said it’s a very important story that needs to be told and retold because of the lessons “we can learn from our past and our history.” Durham said she thinks the show will appeal to everyone. “I think everyone has a moment where they felt oppressed or something like that in their lives,” she said. “And I know, especially as an African-American woman, watching this show, it was kind of mind-blowing to me how much of it still applies to today. And I think just with the topic of immigration and what Tateh goes through in the show, it’s just sad and a little bit scary that it still deals with it, but I think that this is a show that really sheds light on those stories and makes you see from the other perspective and into that perspective.” Humrichouser said, “At the heart of it, I think these people, no matter what challenges they’re facing, they really want to believe in the American dream. They want to believe in freedom and liberty and what those things really mean. And then there’s the people in the show that are stereotypical Americans that take advantage of the American dream who have lost sight of it. It’s a very inspirational story and it helps you take heart in your American dream.” During the show, many of the characters undergo a change. While Durham couldn’t say too much about Sarah’s change without giving her storyline away, Humrichouser said, “I can say, from the outside perspective, what’s lovely is, it is Sarah and Coalhouse’s love story and their love transcends time, which is beautiful. Quite beautiful. “And, I think, from my perspective, it is an example of someone succeeding at the American dream, faced with multiple challenges, and he (Tateh) succeeds regardless of what other people have tried to impose upon him. And he’s able to live the American dream,” he said. The musical genre of ragtime music had its peak in popularity between 1895 and 1918. Having its origins in African-American communities, its trait is its syncopated rhythm. “I feel music in ‘Ragtime’ is such an important thing. It’s such a beautiful, sweeping, epic score and most of it is sung through. And I just think that it’s just this beautiful epic piece of theater and the music is just to die for, and the orchestra sounds amazing,” Durham stated. Humrichouser added, “Ragtime itself was a true American style of music. There’s a yearning in the music, there’s a lot of dissonance in it. Nobody had heard anything like it. It’s a precursor to jazz. It’s a true, true art form, basically taken from the African-American community and then homogenized, for want of a better word, and then it became a national sensation. That change of music was really difficult for a lot of people because they were used to hearing things in a very orderly fashion, and then you start throwing augmented chords in the mix, and some conflict in the music, and then you hear some resolution. So the music itself was storytelling. It’s quite beautiful to listen to, and I think many songs in the show imitate famous ragtime songs.” To see the full interview with Humrichouser and Durham, visit the free video section of the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com. Tickets for “Ragtime” at the Wagon Wheel are $36 for adults, $16 for children 12 and under, $20 for students $13 through college and $28 for seniors. Tickets can be purchased online at www.wagonwheelcenter.org, over the phone at 574-267-8041, and in person at the theatre. The box office is open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday 1 a.m. to 2 p.m. Summer hours are 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.
