'RAGTIME' Opens At Astoria Performing Arts Center 2/5/09

Astoria Performing Arts Center is pleased to announce the production of RAGTIME, a musical directed by APAC's very own Artistic Director, Tom Wojtunik. Ragtime will play a 3-week limited engagement at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church (30-44 Crescent St, Astoria, NY 11102). Performances begin Thursday, February 5th and continue through Sunday, February 22nd.

This epic musical by the award-winning composer/lyricist team Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Lucky Stiff, My Favorite Year, Once On This Island, Seussical) paints a nostalgic and powerful portrait of life in turn of the century America. Based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, Ragtime intertwines three distinct stories that poignantly illustrate history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and love and hate.

Flaherty's score is just as diverse as the Melting Pot of America that it seeks to recreate. It draws upon traditional Jewish folk sounds to color the haunting music of the immigrants, Vaudeville's outrageous style to capture the spectacle of Evelyn Nesbit, and Joplin and Jazz to invoke the enlivened spirit of Harlem.

With a book by Terrance McNally (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Master Class), this 1998 Tony award winning show for best score, book, and orchestrations, features such show stopping songs as "Getting Ready Rag," "Your Daddy's Son," "Wheels of a Dream," "Till We Reach That Day," "Back To Before," and "Make Them Hear You."

Ragtime stars D. William Hughes (2007 Oregon Theatrical Award Winner for Best Actor as Coalhouse in Ragtime at Lakewood Theatre Company/The Civil War, Miss Saigon, Big River tours) as Coalhouse, Ricky Oliver (Mame/Titanic) as Younger Brother, Mark Gerrard ("The Comeback" HBO) as Tateh, James Andrew Walsh (Tateh in Ragtime national tour) as Father and Richard Vernon returns to APAC after playing Richard in Proof last year, as Grandfather.

The production features an award-winning time with scenic design by Michael P. Kramer (nominated for Outstanding Set Design 2008 IT Award APAC productions' Proof and Triumph of Love), costume design by David Withrow (IT Award recipient for Bug Boy Blues), lighting design by Travis Walker and sound design by Kristyn R. Smith. Jillian Zeman is the stage manager.

Production design support, in the amount of $5025, is provided by The Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Foundation.

Ragtime plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, February 22:

Thursdays at 8 p.m.
Fridays at 8 p.m.
Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $15 in advanced and $18 at the door. Available online at www.apacny.org or by calling 866-811-4111. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Box Office, 30 minutes prior to showtime. TDF vouchers accepted.

Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics) writing spans the Broadway stage, feature film and network television. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and received two Grammy nominations as lyricist of the Broadway musical Ragtime; in the same year, she received two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Gold Record for Twentieth Century Fox's animated feature film Anastasia. She wrote book and lyrics for Seussical (Grammy nomination, one of the most performed shows in America); Once On This Island (London Olivier Award, Best Musical, Tony nominations for Best Book and Score); Lincoln Center Theater's The Glorious Ones (five Drama Desk nominations); Dessa Rose (Audelco Award, Best Musical, Outer Critics Circle nomination); A Christmas Carol (ten years at Madison Square Garden) and Lucky Stiff (Helen Hayes Award, Best Musical). She provided lyrics for My Favorite Year, A Man Of No Importance (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Musical) and Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, as well as lyrics for the feature film Camp. For television, she wrote the musical teleplay of A Christmas Carol (Hallmark Entertainment Special, NBC) and is a mainstay songwriter/ singer for the famed series Schoolhouse Rock (ABC-TV) and others. She has received the Emmy Award and four Emmy nominations. Her short stories and essays have appeared nationally and have been nominated for the Best American Essays and Pushcart anthologies. She serves on the Dramatists Guild Council of America, co-chairs the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, and is a member of AMPAS. 2008 marks her twenty-fifth year of collaboration with composer Stephen Flaherty.

Stephen Flaherty (Music) writes music for theater, film, recordings and the concert stage. He is perhaps best known as the composer of the Broadway musicals Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Grammy nominations), Seussical (Grammy and Drama Desk nominations), Once on This Island (Tony nomination, Olivier Award for London's Best Musical), and also contributed music to Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (original songs) and Neil Simon's Proposals (incidental music). He has also written four musicals produced at Lincoln Center Theatre: The Glorious Ones (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations), Dessa Rose (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations), A Man of No Importance (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, Drama Desk nomination) and My Favorite Year. Other theater scores include Lucky Stiff and Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein (Chicago's Jefferson Award for Best New Musical). Film credits include Anastasia (Academy Award nominations for Best Score and Best Song, two Golden Globe nominations and a gold record for its soundtrack), Bartok the Magnificent (original score and songs) and the upcoming After The Storm. Concert work includes commissions from the Boston Pops, Carnegie Hall and the Guggenheim Museum. "The Ahrens and Flaherty Songbook," a print anthology, is available through Alfred Music. His songs have been recorded by Aaliyah, Johnny Mathis, Richard Marx and Donna Lewis, Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel, Donny Osmond, Thalia and Deana Carter, among others. Mr. Flaherty serves on the Dramatists Guild Council, where he co-chairs the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program for emerging writers with Lynn Ahrens, his longtime writing partner.

Terrence McNally (Book) Born in 1939, Terrence McNally would have his first play produced in 1964 at the age of 25. Although several early comedies such as Next (1969) and The Ritz (1975) won McNally quite a bit of praise, it was not until later in his career that he would become truly successful with works such as Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune (1987) for which he wrote the screen adaptation which starred Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer.

In 1990, McNally won an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Miniseries or Special for "Andre's Mother". A year later, he returned to the stage with Lips Together, Teeth Apart (1991), a study of the irrational fears that many people harbor towards homosexuals and victims of AIDS. In the play, two married couples spend the Fourth of July weekend at a summer house on Fire Island. The house has been willed to Sally Truman by her brother who has just died of AIDS, and it soon becomes evident that both couples are afraid to get in the pool, afraid that they will somehow contract AIDS by swimming in the same pool that Sally's brother used to swim in.

With Kiss of the Spider Woman (1992), McNally turned his attentions to the musical stage, collaborating with John Kander (composer) and Fred Ebb (lyricist) on a script, which explores the complex relationship between two men caged together in a Latin American prison. Kiss of the Spider Woman won the 1993 Tony Award for "Best Book of a Musical." McNally also collaborated with Kander and Ebb on The Rink. He collaborated with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens on Ragtime (1997), a musical adaptation of the novel by E.L. Doctorow, which tells the story of Coalhouse Walker Jr., a fiery black piano man who demands retribution when his Model T is destroyed by a mob of white troublemakers. The play also features such historical figures as Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford.

McNally's other plays include Love! Valour! Compassion! (1994), which examines the relationships of eight gay men and Master Class (1995), a character study of legendary opera soprano Maria Callas which won the 1996 Tony Award for "Best Play." McNally also dealt with Callas in The Lisbon Traviata (1989).

In 1997, McNally stirred up a storm of controversy with Corpus Christi (1997), a modern day retelling of the story of Jesus' birth, ministry, and death in which both he and his disciples are homosexuals. In fact, the play was initially cancelled because of death threats against the board members of the Manhattan Theatre Club, which was to produce the play. However, several other playwrights such as Tony Kushner threatened to withdraw their plays if "Corpus Christi" was not produced, and the board finally relented. When the play opened, the Theatre was besieged by almost 2000 protesters, furious at what they considered blasphemy. When Corpus Christi opened in London, a British Muslim group called the Defenders of the Messenger Jesus even went so far as to issue a Fatwa or death sentence on McNally.

In addition to four Tony Awards, McNally has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Dramatists Guild Council since 1970 and has served as vice-president since 1981. He is considered one of the leading American dramatists still writing today.

Tom Wojtunik (Director) APAC: Proof, Woyzeck: Homecoming (15/20 reading). New York: Man of La Mancha, Six Degrees of Separation, Urinetown (NY IT Award Best Musical), Take Me Out (The Gallery Players); The Play About the Naked Guy and Edenville (NY IT Nominee – Best Director, Emerging Artists Theatre); The Miss Education of Jenna Bush (FringeNYC, Best Solo Show & Audience Favorite); Rum and Vodka and The Good Thief (Prospect St. Productions); I'm in Love with Your Wife (Midtown International Theatre Festival); and workshops of David's Play and Bella Via (Ensemble Studio Theatre, 2007/08 Resident Director). BFA: Marymount Manhattan College. Member: SSDC, Lincoln Center Directors' Lab, Emerging Artists Theatre. Upcoming: The Who's Tommy at The Gallery Players.

Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) is dedicated to providing high quality theatre and entertainment at an affordable cost for the Astoria/LIC communities and to supporting local youth. APAC is a not-for-profit arts organization that couples professional theatre programming with community outreach efforts. Each year, APAC brings extended networks of artists, technicians and interns together to produce major musicals, classical, and modern plays. Committed to bringing new voices to visibility in New York theatre, APAC has held 3 playwriting contests, and produced two staged readings.

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