GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Crystal Williams is Sarah in "Ragtime."
DHT’s ‘Ragtime’ is
another blockbuster
Diamond Head Theatre's season-opening production of "Ragtime" entertains with a vitality and dramatic breadth reminiscent of DHT's blockbuster production of "Titanic" in 2002. Directed by Mary Gutzi with choreography by John Rampage and musical direction by Melina Lillios, "Ragtime," is expansive and richly shaded. The size and talent of the ensemble is comparable to "Titanic," which scored eight Po'okela Awards, and includes many of the same performers.
"Ragtime," presented by Diamond Head Theatre, continues at 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday, through Oct. 19. Tickets are $12 to $42, with discounts for students, military and seniors. Call 733-0277.
The key to "Ragtime" is the remarkable constellation that Gutzi has assembled in the lead roles. Foremost are Jerold E. Solomon and Crystal Williams, veterans of "Ragtime" national productions.
The story, based on E. L. Doctorow's best-selling novel, takes place in the early 20th century. A wealthy white family awakens to the uglier side of American society through encounters with people outside their social milieu -- three African-Americans, a Jewish immigrant and his daughter.
Solomon is the show's charismatic heart and soul as Coalhouse Walker Jr., a free-living ragtime pianist who learns that education, talent and money aren't enough to defuse the racist attitudes of those who would deny African-Americans equal access to the American dream. Solomon establishes his star power with his first number, "His Name Was Coalhouse Walker," and maintains it throughout a long and demanding performance.
Crystal Williams (Sarah) owns the stage the moment she appears. Her stage voice soars sweet and soulful through her two big songs in Act I -- one sung to an infant, the other to a lover. Williams' final song-and-dance number, a duet with Solomon in Act II, is a misty moment in the story but a delight to watch as the two illuminate their characters' relationship through dance. Williams is an amazing find and with luck will return to Hawaii.
Buz Tennent (Father) makes a welcome return to the local stage as the stiff and proper patriarch of the wealthy family. Tennent has a perfect partner -- visually and vocally -- in Mary Chesnut Hicks (Mother); Hicks has one of the more demanding roles and plays it convincingly. Matthew Pennaz (Mother's Younger Brother) brings a nuanced sense of rootlessness to his portrayal of a wealthy youth searching for something to make him complete -- maybe a showgirl, maybe a revolution. Richard T. Williams (Grandfather) contributes to the comic aspects of the story, playing a well-intentioned if out-of-touch member of an earlier time -- the type who asks Walker if he knows any "coon songs."
Douglas S. Scheer (Tateh) and Katherine Clifton (The Little Girl) complete the core cast as the Jewish immigrant and his daughter. Tateh, a talented artist, is forced to take a mill job and becomes enmeshed in the workers' struggle for better wages. Scheer can always be counted on to do good work as he does here.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Jerold E. Solomon is Coalhouse Walker Jr. and Crystal Williams is Sarah in the Diamond Head Theatre production of the musical "Ragtime."
The central characters are fictitious but several secondary characters represent the era's celebrities and power brokers: Henry Ford (Scott Moura), Henry Houdini (Jimi V. Wheeler), financier J.P. Morgan (Daren Kimura), Evelyn Nesbit (Kirsten Dixon) and Booker T. Washington (Gemini Burke). Nesbit exploited her notoriety as a principal in one of the new century's most lurid sex scandals to become a celebrated entertainer.
Burke is solid as the patient Washington, who was an unfailing advocate of education, hard work and upright living as the path of advancement and social equality for "the Negro."
Dixon provides comic relief as the ditsy Nesbit. A scene representing the trial of Nesbit's husband, Harry K. Thaw, for shooting her boyfriend, Stanford White, is choreographed in a style akin to "Chicago's" courtroom scenes.
Allison L.B. Maldonado (Sarah's Friend) steps out of the ensemble as the star vocalist on "Till We Reach That Day" and makes it the show's most poignant moment.
Gutzi, who has appeared in national productions of "Ragtime," portrays another real-life figure, the radical anarchist Emma Goldman.
Sukey Dickinson (costume design) uses color to indicate social distinctions -- wealthy Caucasians wear beige and white, African-Americans vibrant blends of earth tones and maroons, the immigrants arrive in a hodge-podge of dark colors. The workers on Ford's assembly line are clad in dull shades of gray and gray-blue.
Stephen Clear (lighting) adds subtle patriotic shadings to the scene in which Father sets off on a polar expedition. Clear highlights the backdrop with reds and blues while Chesnut, dressed in white, stands in the foreground.
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