RAGTIME VERSION 2 at BERKELEY PLAYHOUSE

This version of RAGTIME, first presented on st1:city w:st="on"London/st1:city's st1:place w:st="on"West End/st1:place, features a smaller orchestration and a revised text/score, so the show can be done with minimal visuals and scenic effects.span style="" /spanThis version is also ideal for concert presentations of the show.span style="" /span(The full, Broadway-sized orchestration is also available for concert presentations.) p/p p class="MsoNormal"Called by Time Magazine "A triumph for the stage," and by the International Herald Tribune "the best musical in twenty years," this acclaimed musical won 1998 Tony Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and won both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. /p p class="MsoNormal"RAGTIME is not only a powerful portrait of life in turn-of-the-century st1:place w:st="on"st1:country-region w:st="on"America/st1:country-region/st1:place, but a relevant tale for today. Written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens ("Once On This Island," "Seussical," "Lucky Stiff"), noted playwright Terrence McNally, ("Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Master Class"), and based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, the musical intertwines the stories of three extraordinary families, as they confront history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America./p p class="MsoNormal"The Tony-winning score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty is just as diverse as the melting pot of st1:place w:st="on"st1:country-region w:st="on"America/st1:country-region/st1:place itself. It draws upon many musical styles from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the st1:place w:st="on"Lower East Side/st1:place, from bold brass band marches to delicate waltzes, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlor songs and expansive anthems. /p p class="MsoN