Ragtime

For E.L. Doctorow’s tripartite tale of early-20th-century Americans—rich whites, poor immigrants, struggling blacks—director Stearns has culled fine-voiced actors for Flaherty’s beautiful, rousing score: Charissa Armon, Aaron Graham, Scott Sowinski and Jayson Brooks, among others. Regrettably, the director’s positive contributions end with his casting. Lacking an aesthetic vision, Stearns doesn’t direct his cast members but, in the technical and literal senses, merely blocks them. The actors rely on their own talent and charm, on Eugene Dizon’s solid musical direction and, of course, on Flaherty’s score to forge some musically thrilling moments like the thunderous all-cast opener “Ragtime” and Lina Kernan’s heart-thumping turn in “Till We Reach that Day.”

But between songs, Stearns neglects the character development that would make dialogue and music equally potent and express the story’s insight that grand historical movement happens not without but within real individuals. Staging that doesn’t reflect the book and score’s highly specific sense of place and time—of different Americas colliding—isn’t a matter of scale, but imagination. A small-stage, small-cast Ragtime doesn’t necessarily need funds; it does, however, need ideas. If, for instance, the crowd scenes can’t be amply peopled or if the would-be dramatic gunning-down finale can’t be credibly staged, then more creative, less literal choices need to be made. Without directorial webbing between the lush numbers, they leave the fleeting, hand-in-sand impression of a full-throated pop song, rather than the lasting, carved-in-marble imprint that the epic Ragtime—not to mention, a talented cast—deserves.—Novid Parsi