Ragtime

The set design for the original production of "Ragtime" was dominated by a huge clock – a visual metaphor expressing that with time comes cultural and social change, as difficult as it might be. There is no clock on stage at the Wheelock Family Theatre, where a solid production of this 1998 musical runs through February 17, but its themes have never felt more prescient. White privilege, Black pride and pursuit of the American Dream by the rising immigrant classes at the turn of the 20th century collide in a narrative that proves as relevant as what we read on a chyron feed. Revisiting "Ragtime' is like watching cable news, except it is more than 100 years old.

Its title song, which opens the show in a burst of Scott Joplin-like jazz, sets up a dynamic between the three social groups whose stories intersect in E.L. Doctorow's fanciful mix of fact and fiction, adroitly adapted by Terrence McNally. First, there are the middle-class suburban whites – an archetypical family from New Rochelle – whose lives are irrevocably changed by their interaction with the other two: urban African-Americans and European immigrants.

The family would be right at home in a nostalgic musical like "Meet Me in St. Louis," but instead are thrust in the enormous social and political change that defined the era. This occurs when Mother (the white family is not identified by name) discovers a black baby buried in her garden. Instead of allowing the child's mother, the distraught Sarah, be arrested, she welcomes her and her child in her home, a decision she makes without her absent husband's approval. (He is off on an Arctic adventure.) Sarah is pursued by the baby's father, ragtime musician Coalhouse Walker Jr., who wins her over. When Father (as he is called) returns, his house is filled with the strange, seductive ragtime that Coalhouse plays and a sense that his world will never be the same.

Running throughout this story is that of Tateh, an Eastern European Jew who struggles to make a better life for himself and his daughter. How this story enjoins with those of white and blacks in New Rochelle makes up the thrust of the historic panorama that makes up the musical, which eventually involves the radicalization of Coalhouse after a racist attack. One of Doctorow's most inventive conceits is to bring real-life figures into his fictional story – tabloid sensation Evelyn Nesbitt, magician Harry Houdini, financier Jaye P. Morgan, industrialist Henry Ford, racial leader Booker T. Washington and political radical Emma Goldman each figure into the narrative.

The musical's chief glory is the songs (by Stephen Flaherty and Lynne Ahrens) that capture the unique sound of ragtime, as well as soaring melodies that bring to mind Copland and inspirational anthems right out of Pete Seeger. At the Wheelock, it is well-served by this large and talented cast under the expert musical direction of Jon Goldberg. "Ragtime" soars in its numerous choral numbers, most notably its title number and the full-bodied first act finale, "Till We Reach That Day."

Director Nick Vargas captures the musical's intimacy and sweep in his fast-moving production. (The nicely integrated choreography is by Nailah Randall-Bellinger.) There are any number of fine performances: Jonathan Acorn as Younger Brother conveys his character's radical conversion with conviction and sings with a ringing tenor; Pier Lamia Porter brings pathos to Sarah, especially her moving version of "Your Daddy's Son," her bitter lullaby to her child; Lisa Yuen personifies Mother's journey to an empowered feminist with sensitivity and also powerfully sings her role, most notably her 11 o clock anthem, "Back to Before"; and Tony Castellanos brings humor and humanity to the ambitious Tateh. Best of all is Anthony Pires Jr.'s Coalhouse. He brings a Fats Wallers-like joviality to his character in the early scenes, but when injustice causes him to snap, he becomes a commanding agent of change. When he expresses his credo in "Make Them Hear You," this "Ragtime" realizes its potential.

Lindsay Genevieve Fuori's set – an old-fashioned library with high, rolling bookshelves that move and out of the action – works well with Vargas's concept, which has a group of grade school students reading Doctorow's book as the music plays around them. What they read is something of a polemic with song; and while "Ragtime" may wear its progressive politics on its sleeve, it does so with eloquence and power.

"Ragtime" continues through February 17 at the Wheelock Family Theatre, 200 Riverway, Boston, MA. For more information, visit the Wheelock Family Theatre website.