<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b>A Sublime Witnessing</b></p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center">By Tom Wachunas</p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><b>…And I'll tell it and
think it and speak it and breathe it /And reflect it from the mountain so all
souls can see it / Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin' / But
I'll know my song well before I start singin' / And it's a hard, it's a hard,
it's a hard, it's a hard / It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.<span> </span>– </b>Bob Dylan, from “A Hard Rain's a Gonna
Fall” </p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span><span> </span>E.L. Doctorow (1931-2015), author of the 1975
historical fiction novel,<i> Ragtime </i>(adapted
for an eponymous drama film in 1981 and a Broadway musical in 1998)<i>,</i> once stated, “Good writing is supposed
to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the
feeling of being rained upon.” He also observed, “Writers are witnesses. The
reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century.”
While Doctorow was referring to the 20<sup>th</sup> century, I would add only
that in 2018, and still for the same reasons, we need <i>all </i>the arts.</p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span><span> </span>So there is indeed an aura of timely, relevant
urgency that emanates from this soaring Players Guild production of <i>Ragtime, </i>directed by Jonathan Tisevich.
He also plays a central character in the story. It’s a thoroughly exhilarating partnership
with his cast of 40 performers. Together they sing and move with infectious,
dazzling proficiency through the vivacious choreography by Michael Lawrence Akers
and the wondrously crisp, warm melodic pastiche from the live orchestra
conducted by Steve Parsons. Though set in America’s volatile early years of the
20<sup>th</sup> century leading up to World War I, these eminently versatile
performers make the <i>then</i> of the story
so unnervingly familiar and real that it stands as a sobering reflection of our
<i>now – </i>afflicted as it is by a malaise
of weighty sociopolitical issues including, among others, racial bigotry,
poverty, and immigration. </p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span>In this drama of
societies in conflict, Tisevich plays Tateh,<i>
</i>an intensely solicitous and resourceful Jewish immigrant and father looking
for a new life in America. His singing voice is a marvel of opulent
expressivity, and particularly magical when he intones the gentle imagery of
the song “Gliding” while embracing eight year-old Sophia Tsenekos. She plays
Tateh’s daughter, and throughout the daunting circumstances encountered by her
father, she’s consistently agile and endearing - an adorable spirit of
uncorrupted hope.</p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span>In his role of the
Harlem ragtime pianist named Coalhouse Walker Jr., Christopher Gales is an
altogether compelling presence with a beautifully sonorous voice - equal parts
authoritative muscle and disarming sweetness.<i> </i>He’s a riveting embodiment of Coalhouse’s desperate (and violent)
search for justice and equally desperate efforts to win back the heart of Sarah,
whom he had abandoned before knowing he had fathered her child. As Sarah, Joy
Ellis is a charismatic powerhouse who portrays the complex pathos of her
character with remarkable panache. Her achingly tender voicing of “Your Daddy’s
Son” is one of the evening’s most heartrending moments, as his her electrifying
duet with Coalhouse in “Wheels of a Dream.” </p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span>It’s fascinating to
watch the magnetic Heidi Swinford in her role as the frustrated matriarch of an
affluent white family. Her impassioned duet with Tateh, “Our Children,” is
powerfully optimistic and tender. More powerful still, a little later she
progressively sheds her fears and vulnerability to free herself from
patriarchal oppression, and declares as much in her searing ballad, “Back to
Before.” Meanwhile, Christopher Hager turns in a convincing counterpart as her
husband – often absent from the household, self-absorbed, and struggling to
deal with the forces at work in the world around him. Additionally, there’s
young Ezra Bernstein as the prescient, often bemused son, full of curiosity
about, and commentary on, the situations unfolding around him.</p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span>Offsetting the
gravitas threaded through this narrative, there are refreshing moments of a
different if not lighter nature. Among those is the hilarity of a riotous,
all-male chorus gathered to watch a baseball game; the unforgettably giddy
interludes from Sarah Marie Young as the bubbly, sassy, and slightly daft
showgirl, Evelyn Nesbitt; and Joshua Erichsen making delightfully dashing
appearances as the disappearing Harry Houdini. </p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span>Never disappearing
from this musical epic of colliding cultures, though, is an ever-present sense
of yearning, of offering up a collective supplication, a plea for relief from
the hard rains that have fallen on our divided society. This is most apparent
when the full ensemble is gathered to sing “Till We Reach That Day” at the end
of Act I, and again in Act Two during the stirring climax of the Epilogue. The
splendorous polyphonic power of the ensemble singing is utterly heart-rattling.
</p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span>Call it a glorious
prayer, then. Truly sublime art, such as this radiant Players Guild production,
can be like that.</p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><span> </span><b><i>Ragtime </i></b>/ <b><i><span> </span></i></b>Players Guild Theatre Mainstage,
Cultural Center for the Arts, 1001 Market Ave. N, Canton, Ohio<b><i> / </i></b>THROUGH
MARCH 4 - Shows at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday /<b><i> </i></b>TICKETS:
$29 ages 18 to 54, $26 ages 55 and older, $22 for 17 and younger / Order at
330-453-7617 and </p>
<p class="ydpbe5a9455MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.playersguildtheatre.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.playersguildtheatre.com</a><span> </span></p>
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