Cast of the Theater Latté Da production of
RAGTIME. Photo by Dan Norman.
RAGTIME A HISTORIC LOOK BACK AT THE HERE AND NOW
Although the action of the Tony Award winning
musical Ragtime takes place at the dawn of the
20th century, Minnesota-based director Peter
Rothstein believes its plot and characters could
very well spring from today’s headlines.
“I’m always looking for works that resonate with our
current world,” Rothstein said. “I wanted to do something
that was about national identity. To be honest, when I first
approached doing Ragtime in 2016 I knew there would
be some parallel issues to America 100 years ago, but
I didn’t know issues such as immigration, race, police
violence and gender would reemerge in our current
culture. Ragtime is, sadly, incredibly timely and resonant.”
This epic Tony Award winning musical depicts the
struggles, successes, hopes and dreams of a white,
upper-middle class family in New Rochelle, an African-
American musician and his girlfriend in Harlem and a
Jewish immigrant and his daughter on the Lower East
Side. Interwoven with their stories are the newsmakers of
the era including Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington,
J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford.
68 SARASOTA SCENE | MAY 2018
BY STEVEN J. SMITH
Jared Joseph in Asolo Rep’s production
of RAGTIME. Photo by John Revisky