The award-winning musical Ragtime will have a regional staging at Palo Alto's TheatreWorks Sept. 4-29. Theatreworks founder Robert Kelley will direct.

Ragtime is the story of three different families at the turn of the twentieth century, encompassing the broader histories of several groups of Americans. Jewish immigrant Tateh arrives in New York to build a better life for his daughter; African-American musician Coalhouse Walker, Jr. seeks to win a place for his Sarah and their son; and a middle-class white family tries to understand the changes these new people are bringing to their world. Ragtime won four Tony Awards for its Broadway debut at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, including Best Score for Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens and Best Book for Terrence McNally.

C. Mingo Long, veteran of the touring Parade and Once on This Island, will play Coalhouse Walker, Jr. with April Armstrong replacing Joye Ross (currently set for the Dance of the Vampires cast) as Sarah. Off-Broadway vet Jonathan Hammond is Tateh with Alice Vienneau as Mother, Randall Gremillion as Father and 'vid Buttaro as Younger Brother.

Filling out the ensemble are Danny Abel, Matthew Abel, Folami Ankoanda-Thompson, Darren Barrere, Carmichael Blankenship, Jennifer Brissman, Noel Carey, Lucinda Hitchcock Cone, David Curley, Lianne Marie Dobbs, Lauren Hart, Kelly Houston, Kelsey Eve Jessup, John Elliott Kirk, Stewart Lyle, Melody Marchand, Daraj Maxfield, Adrienne Muller, John Musgrave, Nathan Peterman, Barbara Reynolds, Andy Roberson, Jeanine Robinson, Robert Rossman, Margo Schembre, Tiffany Paige Tanquary, Dawn Troupe, Donna Turner and Titus West.

Tickets are $20-$45. The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts is located at the corner of Castro and Mercy Streets in Mountain View. For tickets, call (650) 903-6000. TheatreWorks is on the web at http://www.theatreworks.org. —By Christine Ehren