Ragtime

With this, the Fife premiere of Ragtime, it is not before time that this musical extravaganza takes its place in the repertoire of shows in the Fife area. It is indeed a massive piece of musical theatre which weaves together a number of historical characters with three families : a white middle-class family given only their relationship names, Mother (Kirsty Gillespie), Father (Derek Langley) and Younger Brother (Tony Livingston), an immigrant from Latvia (Nigel Orkney) and his daughter (Millie Anderson – shared at alternate performances with Luci Laing) and last but not least Coalhouse Walker Junior (Andrew Doig) and his girlfriend, Sarah, played by Steph Hay. Coalhouse and Sarah are a black couple, but, in accordance with current legislation are not blacked up. However, throughout the show, we are presented with an aide memoire as to the ethnicity of the various characters by a series of cleverly designed projections by Sheona Goodall. 

Race is integral to the story of this musical, and it is the clash between Coalhouse and the men of the Fire Service – particularly Fire Chief Willie Conklin (Paul Connor), simply because they didn’t like a black man owning a car (eventually trashed by the firemen) - which lies at the heart of this story. The part of Coalhouse calls on the actor to present a proud, stubborn character combined with an exciting repertoire of songs, all of which are performed to the full by Andrew Doig.  As if this were not enough, Coalhouse is paired with Sarah offering us an extremely believable relationship, which is sadly to come to an end when Sarah is beaten to death at the end of Act One.

Act Two begins with Coalhouse’s Soliloquy expressing his frustration at the failure of the judicial system. Father attempts to escape his family’s siding with Coalhouse by taking his ‘Little Boy’ (Benjamin Anderson) to a baseball game, and then to the coast where they meet up with the ‘Latvian immigrant, Tateh’, now a movie director. However, back in New York, a stand-off has resulted with Coalhouse and his men barricading themselves within the Morgan Library.  Following negotiations, during which Coalhouse agrees that his men should be allowed to leave in safety, Coalhouse himself eventually walks out of the building to a volley of gunshot.

The question of how to stage a show of this magnitude, with a sizeable cast in a relatively small venue was solved by the use of a largely static set comprising – upstage – treads on both sides leading up to a bridge, above and below which cast could enter and exit, and, as required, from which Coalhouse’s car could appear. Much use was also made of the forestage and entrances through the auditorium.  Location of the various scenes was further explained by rear projections on a screen above the bridge. I particularly appreciated the neatly focussed areas, allowing two or sometimes more scenes to be set on stage at the same time.

Congratulations to MD Peter Holligan and his orchestra, which never prevented us from hearing the excellent singing from both principals and the well-drilled chorus, together with a host of minor principal characters.  Final mention goes to the youngest member of the cast Coalhouse Walker lll, played to perfection by young Benjamin Innes!

Well done LAMA!  Thank you for inviting me along and for introducing me to “Ragtime – The Musical” !

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