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Arts & Entertainment

Young Actors' Theatre's Radical History Tour

Spring Valley's Young Actors' Theatre takes a bold step forward with the turn-of-the-century musical "Ragtime."

New plush red seats and the exciting addition of an orchestra pit were not the only improvements to the introduced at Thursday’s opening performance of Ragtime. The subject matter of the musical itself was the first step in a bold new direction for the theatre—risky, dark, controversial and heavy with historical significance.

Light and humorous moments popped up throughout as well, but the specter of racism and other fear-based intolerance cast a shadow over the story that made even the happy ending bittersweet. The tone was set from the opening number, featuring three different classes of Americans: modestly wealthy whites, musically passionate blacks, and wide-eyed Jewish immigrants fresh off the boat. Distinctive costumes—from bright white bustles and parasols to colorful floral dresses to drab coats and shawls—further separated the classes and reminded them where they belonged. Nevertheless, their voices harmonized beautifully during the course of the song as the individuals mixed and mingled, but once they realized their apparent error, they quickly separated back into their respective groups—an apt metaphor for New York circa 1906.

Soon after, another bold move for the theatre became apparent.  The production’s director, Jean Isaac, warned the audience beforehand that the play included “mature language.” Aside from a few younger characters, the cast was predominately filled with teenagers, so a few instances of “damn” and “son of a b****” were expected, considering the cast helped choose the production. What was not expected, however, was several utterances of the (arguably) worst of the worst—the notorious “N” word that, in 1906, was part of the common lexicon.  While each utterance of the word stung, all mentions were thankfully limited to one character, the sleazy villain Willy Conklin (Ryan Sandvick), an Irish-American fireman who was all the more vile considering the prejudice the Irish faced when they first immigrated in droves to New York.

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Language was not the only disturbing aspect of the story. Plot points such as the character Mother (Lauren Clough) finding a baby buried alive in her garden, or a man offering to buy struggling Jewish immigrant Tateh’s (Marcos Melero) young daughter (Adela Colorado) were especially harsh, punctuating the hopelessness and despair that defined the tone of Act I.

There were bright spots, however. The music, in particular, was astounding; if any production demanded the accompaniment of a live orchestra, Ragtime, named after the popular music of the time, is it. And the character who best represented the music, piano player Coalhouse Walker (Perry Lee), proved a phenomenal presence with a voice to match.

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Additionally, the chemistry between Coalhouse and his love interest, Sarah (K’Ashia Galvin), was electric. From the way their hands caressed each other during a tender hug, to the way they gazed into each other’s eyes as they danced, it was apparent that either the couple were exceptional actors or there was some offstage romance invading the production.

Other standout performances included Mother, whose lovely lilting voice was unfortunately not fully revealed until the second act, when her malfunctioning microphone was finally fixed. Her duet with Tateh, “Our Children,” was poignant and sweet, and it was a shame that her earlier songs were technically maligned.  Younger Brother (SeeJay Lewis) also dished out an exceptional performance, channeling lovestruck passion for local celebrity Evelyn Nesbit (Nicola Barrett, in a hilariously campy performance) into radical politics after being swiftly rejected.  Union organizer Emma Goldman (Alex Koutsenok) also commanded the stage during her scenes, effectively whipping her followers into a froth over the mistreatment of immigrant workers.

In fact, the celebrity worship and union foundation storylines were remarkably prescient; Evelyn Nesbit’s shameless campaign for fame resembled current famous-for-being-famous personalities such as Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton. And the recent battle in Wisconsin to protect public union rights brought extra shades of relevance to Emma Goldman’s war against capitalistic hostility toward workers.

But aside from prodding the audience’s sense of morality, the play was primarily focused on entertaining through song—a goal the production met without question.  However, there was one point of contention that could not be overlooked: Maxine DeMos was tragically underused. According to her bio in the program, Maxine is currently recording in a studio, and perhaps time constraints prevented her from taking on a larger role than “Sarah’s friend.”  She contributed mostly to backing vocals, with just a few solos highlighting her impressive range, but after her knockout performance in “Hairspray,” it was disappointing that she was not a spotlight performer. Note to YAT: We demand more DeMos!

And we also demand more radical, mature and challenging material from the YAT’s senior division. The performers were more than up for the task, and they even seemed to blossom outside the environment of safe choices that many other youth theaters adopt in the name of protecting minors from the evils of the real world. News flash: the world can be a scary, dirty, mean place, and perhaps giving young actors the chance to experience such aspects of life on the stage will better prepare them for dealing with the world outside the theater.

There are three more performances of "Ragtime" at the YAT: Thursday, March 24 thru Saturday, March 26, 7 p.m. each night, and Sunday, March 27, at 2 p.m. Ticket information is available at the YAT website.

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