The first ever showing in the new Dorothy Young Center was success. Ragtime was the first play performed in the new black box theater. Ragtime takes you back to the early part of the twentieth century America when racism was very evident, immigration was happening at Ellis Island and immigrants were looking for that elusive goal of achieving the American dream. To name all the characters in the play would take up the whole review so I am not going to mention all of them. I was very impressed with the showing of Ragtime. I enjoyed the entire show. It was the first time I have ever seen what a black box theater looked like. The director used the entire theater to show everyone in the play. The use of the upper tier as a upstairs to the house in New Rochelle and as a platform to speak in Union Square. Also the floor of the stage was used to its fullest. The scene with the baby in the garden, the garden was in the floor of the stage. Also the use of the trap door in the funeral scene really showed how the director used the whole stage to get across certain sentiments to the audience like sorrow in that funeral scene. .
The beginning of the play gives a brief bio on some characters, then everyone in the cast it seems was out on stage for the singing of Ragtime. This really was amazing to see everyone singing together. It really got me into the play a lot more with action right at the start of the production. The acting in the musical was also very good. Josh Cashman with the little girl was fantastic. He had to learn how to do a Yiddish accent with the fact that he had to sing with that voice. An amazing accomplishment. Coalhouse played by Abdel Gonzalez was also another character I knew previously and was impressed by how well he played his character that was so hated and discriminated against. .
The Show was like a live history lesson on the early twentieth century. The showing of racism not just against blacks but other immigrants was as bad or worse than was seen in the play.