Randy Jeter | Bringing RAGTIME to EPAC | April 25 - May 11, 2019
An inside look at Randy Jeter and Yolanda London Dwyer in rehearsals for Ephrata Performing Arts Center's production of RAGTIME, directed by Edward Fernandez.
Based on the famous 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime is an epic musical about America entering a new century. With its glorious score, Ragtime encapsulates the dream and the reality of an America still striving to define itself, seen through three very different perspectives. Mother is living with her typical white upper-class family in New Rochelle. Coalhouse Walker Jr. is an avant-garde musician living with his girlfriend in Harlem. And Tateh is a Jewish immigrant traveling with his daughter from Latvia to Ellis Island to the Lower East Side tenements. Despite their diverse backgrounds, all three will find their lives inextricably tied together by fate and happenstance. Along the way, they’ll also cross paths with Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Admiral Peary, Emma Goldman, and other famous historical figures of the time. Mother is hoping to lead her family in her husband’s absence and thrive in her newfound independence; Coalhouse is striving to invent a new type of music and win back his love Sarah; and Tateh is seeking the American dream as an artist and success for the sake of his daughter. But the world is swiftly changing around them; will they be able to keep up?
RAGTIME is a musical with book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty.
*Recommended for teens to adults.
RAGTIME will run from April 25, through May 11, at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at ephrataperformingartscenter.com or by calling 717-733-7966 x 1.
Thursday night shows are at 7:30pm; Friday and Saturday shows are at 8:00pm. Tickets are $15 - $32.
Ragtime is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019