Amarillo Little Theatre's latest production, Ragtime, kicked off last week, and shows continue through November 16th at the Allen Shankles Main Stage. The musical brings together the stories of three groups of people in early 20th century New York City, showing a sort of vertical slice of the different groups who called the city home during the iconic period. HPPR sat down with ALT’s Raquel Marasky, Annika Spalding, and Jacob Miller to talk about the show, some of the characters, the costumes, set, and lights, and how those all come together on stage to bring a taste of 1900s New York City to the Texas Panhandle. To hear the full interview, click the link at the top of the page.
“So, this story is a really amazing combination of stories, actually.” Spalding said. “It sort of weaves three separate stories together: an upper class family, an African-American family, and an immigrant family who are all sort of chasing after their own version of the American dream—and how those stories combine and all of the things that happened to them in between. The music is absolutely glorious. This musical won a Tony in 1998, and it's really, an incredible story that's actually very timely with what we're going through in our country today, though it’s set at the turn of the 20th century in New Rochelle, New York.”
Spalding continued, talking about historical parallels between the current era, and the period when the story is set. “Isn't it so interesting how history tends to repeat itself?...this show was written in the late 90s, and a lot of the themes that are happening to these human beings at the turn of the 20th century, we're still dealing with these issues today...So the themes of this musical pack a really powerful punch, especially with what's going on in the United States now.”
Spalding also described the pared-down set design and other visual elements of the show. “The staging for the show is actually really interesting because it's a minimalistic staging of the show, almost like a concert style. So the 25-piece orchestra is at the very back of the theater, and everything is sort of abstract and representational. The costumes and the lights more than make up for the minimalistic nature of the staging and the set pieces; the costumes we've rented from Lyric Theater Company in Oklahoma City...they're absolutely stunning. The light cues are done by our technical director, Noah Lang, and there are 55 light cues in the opening number alone.”
Ragtime runs at the ALT Allen Shankles Main Stage from November 6 through the 16th. Tickets can be purchased here. More information can be found by calling the ALT box office at 806-355-9991, or visiting amarillolittletheater.org.
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