Klonor
13-07-2005, 02:57
Father explored the North Pole, Mother learned what it meant to be more than just a house-wife with no say in her own life, Tateh provided his daughter with the life she always deserved, Colehouse Jr. was raised in a house of love, and there was distant music.......
Ragtime, a musical based on a movie based on a book which I've been told is very good, details the lives of three drastically different families during the dawn of the 20'th Century. In New Rochelle there is Mother, Father, Younger Brother, Son, and Grandfather, an upper-middle class WASP family trapped in old traditions. In Harlem we have Coalhouse Walker, famous (and talented) black musucian who ignores the women flocking to him so he can win back the One That Got Away, Sarah. All across the Eastern Seaboard there is Tateh and Little Girl, father and daughter Jewish immigrants trying to find the life of plenty in America. Three groups of people who only want to live, who want to make life better for those they love, and who desperately want to find their place in the rapidly changing world. Three groups of people who are thrust into tragedy and hardship, three groups of people where none escape unharmed.
A phenominal production, Ragtime is a play that will bring a tear to your eye, laughter to your soul, and will make your world go "Wheeee!".
WARNING: SPOLIERS FOR RAGTIME TO FOLLOW! PLOT DESCRIPTION, CHARACTER INSPECTION, AND PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS! READ ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
We start the play in 1902, focused on the New Rochelle family, a well-to-do bunch that owes their success to the fireworks factory owned by Father. Father, the adventurous type (With a slight streak of bigotry), has decided to embark upon an expedition to find the North Pole and will be gone for one year, leaving Mother to care for the family and the business while he is gone. Unfortunately, the New Rochelle family is very traditional and old fashioned, Mother is unused to leading a life beyond looking pretty and caring for the children. Thankfully, beneath the pretty exterior is a bright, thoughtful, and adaptable mind which quickly rises to the challenge and finds itself unwilling to slink back into "Seen but not not heard" lifestyle it had previously found itself inhabiting. Younger Brother, Mothers younger brother, works in Fathers fireworks factory and is a brilliant young man, but he lacks any purpose to his life and wishes that he could find something to devote himself to. Son is simply a small boy, eager to play and be merry and without a care in the world. But everything changes when, shortly after Father leaves for the Icy North, they find a small baby abandoned on their property.
The baby is Sarah's, a black woman who works as a maid in a house down the street and who abandoned the baby when she couldn't bare to be reminded of the baby's father, Coalhouse Walker, any further. The family, instead of allowing Sarah to be arrested for attempted murder when the police find her, take her and the baby, Coalhouse Jr., into their lives. They treat her like one of the family and try to make her life better than what it was before. Then Coalhouse shows up at their door.
Coalhouse Walker is a pioneering musician down in Harlem, playing ragtime music and being paid quite well to do so. Women are throwing themselves at him, but his mind is still caught up with Sarah, who left him so long ago. (It should be noted that it is never stated in the play who actually left who. Rather, it is implied that Coalhouse was such a horribly bad boyfriend, sleeping around behind her back and constantly going on tours far away and leaving her behind, that she was driven away before Coalhouse even knew that Sarah was pregnant.) He finally managed to learn where she is (With the family in New Riochelle) and pledges to himself and all his fans that he will win her back. So, he gets all dudded up, including buying a brand spanking new Model-T, and drives up to New Rochelle. When Mother answers the door, shocked to find a black man waiting there, he politely inquires if Sarah is there and asks to speak with her. Mother relays the message, Sarah refuses to speak with him, and Coalhouse dejectedly drives back to Harlem, pledging to return the next Sunday. True to his word, he's back the next week asking for Sarah. Again, he is turned away. Week after week he comes back, each time easking for Sarah, untill eventually the family can't bare to turn him away again. They invite him in, with Sarah still refusing to see him, and pass the time talking and Coalhouse playing ragtime music (Which awes everybody). While in the house he sees Sarah's child, his child, and finally learns that he's a father. He continues his weekly journey to New Rochelle, determined as ever to win Sarah's love, and she finally agrees to see him. Sparks fly, lightning strikes, and all is right in the world. For a while.
Meanwhile, back before Coalhouse even learned where Sarah was, Tateh and Little Girl are on a boat bound for America. They dream of streets paved with gold, of warm food and soft beds, and of peace and equality. They find nothing of the sort. Tateh, who plans to make his living by selling silhouette's to the New York populace, can't even by food enough to keep his daughter healthy even when he completely forgoes all sustenance himself. They are starving, weak, and sick, and still Tateh strives forward in the hopes that he will make a better life for his daughter. But things only go downhill and, one day, Little Girl is so sick she can't even stand while her father tries to earn enough money for medicine and food. Lying next to him on the street, Tateh is approached by a business man who inquires "how much?". Offering him a discount, 3 cents instead of the usual 5, Tateh quickly works to make his best silhouette ever when he is rudely interrupted by the man. "Not for a silhouette you idiot. How much for the girl?" One severe beating later, Tateh decides it will be better if they got out of New York, that they could find a better life somewhere else in America. Surely some place in this vast country can offer them a life better than they have now, a life that is even worse than the horrors they suffered before coming to America. Sadly, the two of them scrape and toil and save enough money to buy two train tickets. At the station, they meet Mother and Son.
"Good day, sir." "Good day, ma'am."
The children are actually the ones who initiated the conversation, Son couldn't help but stare at the shoddy clothes that Tateh and Little Girl wore. The adults, however, tried to be civil and spoke kindly while waiting for their trains. Tateh is awed at how Mother called him 'Sir', citing it as proof to Little Girl that things will surely get better now that they're getting out of New York City. Their conversation isn't very wonderous, comments about the weather and such, but it's a conversation between two people, instead of a conversation between a Christian and a Jew. Gladdened by this new experience, Tateh continues to try to find the wonderful American he heard about in his childhood.
Then Father comes home. He's shocked and dismayed that his wife has given shelter to a black woman and her bastard child, shocked that she even helped foster the sinful courtship between Coalhouse and Sarah, and shocked most of all at how she actually liked tending to the management of the factory and isn't quite ready to become a piece of decoration again. Needless to say, Father is a bit shocked. The family goes through a bit of a rought patch. It is all easily summed up for the audience when Father takes Son to a baseball game. He remembers civilised and quite games, with only other rich folk like himself in attendance and no jeering or heckles from the crowd. He's shocked (again) to find himself sitting side by side with people who can't suddenly take a year off from work to go on a wild fling, and with people who are cursing, yelling, and spitting at the players. Essentially, it shows how Father is trapped in a progressing and changing world when he himself is still trying to live in the old one. Only Son enjoyes the game, and that's mainly because he was cursing and spitting along with the rowdy crowd surrounding them.
But the story doesn't end there, only this post does. Sorry, but I gotta go. See ya!
Ragtime, a musical based on a movie based on a book which I've been told is very good, details the lives of three drastically different families during the dawn of the 20'th Century. In New Rochelle there is Mother, Father, Younger Brother, Son, and Grandfather, an upper-middle class WASP family trapped in old traditions. In Harlem we have Coalhouse Walker, famous (and talented) black musucian who ignores the women flocking to him so he can win back the One That Got Away, Sarah. All across the Eastern Seaboard there is Tateh and Little Girl, father and daughter Jewish immigrants trying to find the life of plenty in America. Three groups of people who only want to live, who want to make life better for those they love, and who desperately want to find their place in the rapidly changing world. Three groups of people who are thrust into tragedy and hardship, three groups of people where none escape unharmed.
A phenominal production, Ragtime is a play that will bring a tear to your eye, laughter to your soul, and will make your world go "Wheeee!".
WARNING: SPOLIERS FOR RAGTIME TO FOLLOW! PLOT DESCRIPTION, CHARACTER INSPECTION, AND PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS! READ ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
We start the play in 1902, focused on the New Rochelle family, a well-to-do bunch that owes their success to the fireworks factory owned by Father. Father, the adventurous type (With a slight streak of bigotry), has decided to embark upon an expedition to find the North Pole and will be gone for one year, leaving Mother to care for the family and the business while he is gone. Unfortunately, the New Rochelle family is very traditional and old fashioned, Mother is unused to leading a life beyond looking pretty and caring for the children. Thankfully, beneath the pretty exterior is a bright, thoughtful, and adaptable mind which quickly rises to the challenge and finds itself unwilling to slink back into "Seen but not not heard" lifestyle it had previously found itself inhabiting. Younger Brother, Mothers younger brother, works in Fathers fireworks factory and is a brilliant young man, but he lacks any purpose to his life and wishes that he could find something to devote himself to. Son is simply a small boy, eager to play and be merry and without a care in the world. But everything changes when, shortly after Father leaves for the Icy North, they find a small baby abandoned on their property.
The baby is Sarah's, a black woman who works as a maid in a house down the street and who abandoned the baby when she couldn't bare to be reminded of the baby's father, Coalhouse Walker, any further. The family, instead of allowing Sarah to be arrested for attempted murder when the police find her, take her and the baby, Coalhouse Jr., into their lives. They treat her like one of the family and try to make her life better than what it was before. Then Coalhouse shows up at their door.
Coalhouse Walker is a pioneering musician down in Harlem, playing ragtime music and being paid quite well to do so. Women are throwing themselves at him, but his mind is still caught up with Sarah, who left him so long ago. (It should be noted that it is never stated in the play who actually left who. Rather, it is implied that Coalhouse was such a horribly bad boyfriend, sleeping around behind her back and constantly going on tours far away and leaving her behind, that she was driven away before Coalhouse even knew that Sarah was pregnant.) He finally managed to learn where she is (With the family in New Riochelle) and pledges to himself and all his fans that he will win her back. So, he gets all dudded up, including buying a brand spanking new Model-T, and drives up to New Rochelle. When Mother answers the door, shocked to find a black man waiting there, he politely inquires if Sarah is there and asks to speak with her. Mother relays the message, Sarah refuses to speak with him, and Coalhouse dejectedly drives back to Harlem, pledging to return the next Sunday. True to his word, he's back the next week asking for Sarah. Again, he is turned away. Week after week he comes back, each time easking for Sarah, untill eventually the family can't bare to turn him away again. They invite him in, with Sarah still refusing to see him, and pass the time talking and Coalhouse playing ragtime music (Which awes everybody). While in the house he sees Sarah's child, his child, and finally learns that he's a father. He continues his weekly journey to New Rochelle, determined as ever to win Sarah's love, and she finally agrees to see him. Sparks fly, lightning strikes, and all is right in the world. For a while.
Meanwhile, back before Coalhouse even learned where Sarah was, Tateh and Little Girl are on a boat bound for America. They dream of streets paved with gold, of warm food and soft beds, and of peace and equality. They find nothing of the sort. Tateh, who plans to make his living by selling silhouette's to the New York populace, can't even by food enough to keep his daughter healthy even when he completely forgoes all sustenance himself. They are starving, weak, and sick, and still Tateh strives forward in the hopes that he will make a better life for his daughter. But things only go downhill and, one day, Little Girl is so sick she can't even stand while her father tries to earn enough money for medicine and food. Lying next to him on the street, Tateh is approached by a business man who inquires "how much?". Offering him a discount, 3 cents instead of the usual 5, Tateh quickly works to make his best silhouette ever when he is rudely interrupted by the man. "Not for a silhouette you idiot. How much for the girl?" One severe beating later, Tateh decides it will be better if they got out of New York, that they could find a better life somewhere else in America. Surely some place in this vast country can offer them a life better than they have now, a life that is even worse than the horrors they suffered before coming to America. Sadly, the two of them scrape and toil and save enough money to buy two train tickets. At the station, they meet Mother and Son.
"Good day, sir." "Good day, ma'am."
The children are actually the ones who initiated the conversation, Son couldn't help but stare at the shoddy clothes that Tateh and Little Girl wore. The adults, however, tried to be civil and spoke kindly while waiting for their trains. Tateh is awed at how Mother called him 'Sir', citing it as proof to Little Girl that things will surely get better now that they're getting out of New York City. Their conversation isn't very wonderous, comments about the weather and such, but it's a conversation between two people, instead of a conversation between a Christian and a Jew. Gladdened by this new experience, Tateh continues to try to find the wonderful American he heard about in his childhood.
Then Father comes home. He's shocked and dismayed that his wife has given shelter to a black woman and her bastard child, shocked that she even helped foster the sinful courtship between Coalhouse and Sarah, and shocked most of all at how she actually liked tending to the management of the factory and isn't quite ready to become a piece of decoration again. Needless to say, Father is a bit shocked. The family goes through a bit of a rought patch. It is all easily summed up for the audience when Father takes Son to a baseball game. He remembers civilised and quite games, with only other rich folk like himself in attendance and no jeering or heckles from the crowd. He's shocked (again) to find himself sitting side by side with people who can't suddenly take a year off from work to go on a wild fling, and with people who are cursing, yelling, and spitting at the players. Essentially, it shows how Father is trapped in a progressing and changing world when he himself is still trying to live in the old one. Only Son enjoyes the game, and that's mainly because he was cursing and spitting along with the rowdy crowd surrounding them.
But the story doesn't end there, only this post does. Sorry, but I gotta go. See ya!