ANCHOR INTRO: E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel Ragtime has inspired a feature film and a stage musical. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando took in a rehearsal of the San Diego Musical Theatre’s production that opened over the weekend at the Spreckels Theater. For more than 100 years the Statue of Liberty has been saying to the world Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The story of immigrants in America is part of San Diego Musical Theatre’s production of Ragtime The Musical. Louis Pardo plays Tateh, a Latvian immigrant who comes to America in 1906 to find a better life. LOUIS PARDO: He’s banked everything on the idea that the American Dream will come true for him and his family. And when it doesn’t it’s crushing and his story is finding his way to the American dream. Ragtime divides its characters into three groups all pursuing the American Dream: The Immigrants (to which Tateh belongs), Harlem, and New Rochelle. Jay Donnell pays Coalhouse Walker, Jr., a member of the Harlem group. CLIP Song… JAY DONNELL: Coalhouse has a pretty big arc in the show, he’s a very proud man, very confident, and even though he’s met with racism of the times he always does his best to carry himself above rather than give into the hate. Carolyn Agan plays Mother who is part of the upper class family living in NewRochelle. CAROLYN AGAN: Mother is the quintessential turn of the century woman where she’s on this straddling this this line of being a woman of the past and being a woman that follows her husband and follows the rules and does everything right and coming into her own as a woman of the new century. Each of the characters in the play goes through a transformation as he or she confronts challenges. Donnell says that it’s about people at the beginning of a new century looking to the future with a sense of hope and change. JAY DONNELL: It’s interesting, the show starts at 1906 and they talk about having 94 years to go before this change will come and here we are in 2016 and still facing some of the same injustices that people had to face, immigrants, people of color, and women had to face at the turn of the century. Agan says these issues could be pulled from today’s headlines. CAROLYN AGAN: Coalhouse has this beautiful song at the end called “Make Them Hear You” and it could be sung every black lives matter rally that has ever happened. PAUL Wow, it just really makes you go wow, wow… Paul David Bryant joined the national tour of Ragtime The Musical in 1998. He’s now directing the show and says that the message remains the same. PAUL DAVID BRYANT: The message of Ragtime is live and let live. I’m not the same as you but I am my own person and I expect you to respect me. Pardo says the immigrants coming to America now may be coming from continents beyond Europe but they face the same obstacles that his character Tateh faces. LOUIS PARDO: The show is relevant because it is about social turmoil and that will never go away. Another member of the Harlem group is Sarah, a young woman dealing with a pregnancy out of wedlock. She is played by Nicoloe Pryor. NICOLE PRYOR: What I’m learning from this show and what I learned in my life is that inclusion is something that needs to be learned and practiced… but in order for the world to be what Martin Luther King talked about, equal, you have to practice inclusion, I’m sorry I just get so, because people don’t, they don’t realize it’s a problem because they are not racist, they don’t realize that they are not personally trying to exclude others, it’s not that, people are not bad people they just have to practice a new way of thinking… inclusion is really the only thing that I think is lacking in our society and that’s what this musical is about, by the end of the show you will understand inclusion can make a difference. Bryant admits that this message is not a new one. PAUL DAVID BRYANT: But are we listening, really are we listening? The cast and crew of San Diego Musical Theatre’s Ragtime The Musical hope that this time more people will hear that message. CLIP Sings: I’m ready lord! Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
San Diego Musical Theatre
"Ragtime The Musical"
When: Feb. 5- Feb. 21
Where: Spreckels Theater, 121 Broadway, San Diego
Tickets available online
E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel “Ragtime” has inspired a feature film and a stage musical. San Diego Musical Theatre presents their production of “Ragtime The Musical” at the Spreckels Theater through Feb. 21.
For more than a century, the Statue of Liberty has been saying to the world, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
The story of immigrants in America is part of San Diego Musical Theatre’s production of “Ragtime The Musical.” Louis Pardo plays Tateh, a Latvian immigrant in the early 1900s.
“Tateh comes to America in search of something greater and finds that it’s just the same story in a different place,” Pardo said before a rehearsal. “And he just, he doesn’t know what to do with this because he’s brought his daughter here, and he’s banked everything on the idea that the American dream will come true for him and his family. And when it doesn’t, it’s crushing and his story is finding his way to the American dream.”
Actress Nicole Pryor plays Sarah, a young African-American woman who becomes pregnant out of wedlock.
“'Ragtime' is a story of people who are trying to make a life for themselves in America,” Pryor said. “I play the role of Sarah and I am a member of the Harlem group. There are three groups in the show: there’s the New Rochelle group, the Harlem group, and there’s the immigrant group.”
Jay Donnell plays Coalhouse Walker, Jr., who is also a member of the Harlem group.
“Coalhouse has a pretty big arc in the show,” Donnell said. “He’s a very proud man, very confident, and even though he’s met with racism of the times, he always does his best to carry himself above rather than give into the hate.”
Carolyn Agan plays Mother, whom she described as “the quintessential turn of the century woman. She’s straddling this line of being a woman of the past and being a woman that follows her husband and follows the rules and does everything right, and coming into her own as a woman of the new century.”
The story starts in 1906.
“They talk about having 94 years to go before this change will come and here we are in 2016 and still facing some of the same injustices that people had to face — immigrants, people of color, and women — had to face at the turn of the century,” Donnell said.
“Coalhouse has this beautiful song at the end called ‘Make Them Hear You’ and it could be sung (at) every Black Lives Matter rally that has ever happened,” Agan said.
“The show is relevant because it is about social turmoil and that will never go away,” Pardo added.
Paul David Bryant joined the national tour of “Ragtime The Musical” back in 1998. He’s now directing the show.
“The message of ‘Ragtime’ is live and let live,” Bryant said. “I’m not the same as you but I am my own person and I expect you to respect me.”
Pryor got emotional when she talked about the play’s relevance and started to cry:
"What I’m learning from this show and what I learned in my life is that inclusion is something that needs to be learned and practiced. It isn’t natural and we all need to understand we’re not racist because we gravitate to other people that are like us but in order for the world to be what Martin Luther King talked about, equal, you have to practice inclusion. People don’t realize it’s a problem because they are not racist, they don’t realize that they are not personally trying to exclude others. It’s not that people are bad people, they just have to practice a new way of thinking, ‘I am going to make an effort to in this moment try and communicate and create friendships and relationships with someone who is different, to make a difference.’ Inclusion is really the only thing that I think is lacking in our society and that’s what this musical is about, by the end of the show you will understand inclusion can make a difference."
This is a message that has been told before but the cast and crew of San Diego Musical Theatre’s “Ragtime The Musical” hope that this time more people will hear it.
San Diego Musical Theatre’s “Ragtime The Musical” runs through Feb. 21 at the Spreckels Theater.
