Ragtime

Blogging late is better than never.... I have just returned home from seeing Ragtime the Musical at The Curtain Playhouse in Denver (actually, Wheat Ridge). My one word: Stupendous. Wow! I laughed and I cried and my feet kept finding the rhythm of the piano without my thinking about it. What a glorious play! The Curtain Playhouse has all of 36 seats for patrons - and the size of the stage equals the size of the seating area. It's a very intimate theatre. I am prejudiced, because I know one of the performers... but my sister cried at least five different times, as did I, and we both laughed, also. The cast was superb - with many of them portraying multiple parts, except the lead players. After their bows, the actors and actresses mingled with the patrons in the entry hall/lounge area - and everyone had equal access to all. It was a great ending for the audience.
Being a WASSP (White Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian Protestant), I have never had to deal with the many prejudices that still abound in our country. Having grown up in the Deep South, I was a witness to racial prejudice, but I can't remember noticing religious prejudice. I'm sure it was also there, but that I just did not recognize it or take notice of it. I try to be, and hope that I am, prejudice free. This play was about the lives and times of African-Americans, Jewish and Irish immigrants, other immigrants, and American WASPs - it was about basic freedoms, creativity, hatred, love, and heartbreaking loss. It was about all of us. It was great.