Photos: First Look At National Youth Music Theatre's Production Of RAGTIME

Book by Terrence Mcnally, music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
This sweeping musical portrait of early 20th-century America tells the story of three

families in the pursuit of the American Dream.

National Youth Music Theatre represents the very best in work with young people through musical theatre enabling thousands of youngsters across the UK to develop both their creative and personal potential, leading Andrew Lloyd Webber to dub it "the best youth music theatre in the world".

Written by the award-winning composer/ lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens ('Once on This Island', 'Seussical' and 'Lucky Stiff'), noted playwright Terrence McNally, and based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, 'Ragtime' was the winner of the 1998 Tony Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. Called by TIME Magazine "A triumph for the stage," and by the International Herald Tribune "the best musical in 20 years," this acclaimed musical is filled with pageantry, emotion and hope, bursting onto the stage like no other musical.

The Tony-winning score is just as diverse as the melting pot of America itself, drawing upon many musical styles, from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the Lower East Side, from bold brass band marches to delicate waltzes, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlour songs and expansive anthems.

Photo Credit: Konrad Bartelski