Ragtime February 10, 2012

Feb 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 7:30pm; Feb 12, 2pm

Ragtime, a musical drama, written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, noted playwright Terrence McNally, and based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, is set in the volatile melting pot of New York at the dawn of the 20th century.

Ragtime weaves together three distinctly American tales - that of an upper-class wife and mother, stifled and yearning for more, a Jewish immigrant, struggling to protect his young daughter against the ravages of poverty, and a Harlem musician wooing the mother of his child.

As the stories of these three unlikely collaborators weave in and around each other, they become united by their courage, compassion, and belief in the promises of the future.

Stephen Flaherty's score draws upon traditional Jewish folk sounds, Vaudeville's big and brassy melodies, and Scott Joplin's lively Ragtime invoking the very early sounds of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Feb. 12th performance is a Gala fundraiser to support YMTC's Tuition Assistance Fund, to insure that students of all backgrounds have access to YMTC's advanced theater workshops and performance opportunities.

Directed by Jennifer Boesing, Choreographed by Russell Wright, and accompanied by a live 26- piece orchestra led by Music Director and Conductor, Dave Moschler.

YMTC (Youth Musical Theater Company) is a non-profit, Berkeley-based company which produces professional caliber musical theater while providing exceptional theater training to students from the 7th grade through university level. We bring together the Bay Area's most talented and dedicated young singer/actors with professional directors, designers, and musicians to create theater that takes on challenging and sophisticated musical and dramatic themes, and that is always accompanied by a full, live orchestra.

Official Website: http://www.ymtcberkeley.org