The Pasadena Playhouse production of the award-winning musical Ragtime officially opens February 10 following previews that began February 5. The limited engagement continues through March 3 with 21 actors and a 16-piece orchestra.
David Lee directs, with choreography by Mark Esposito and musical direction by Darryl Archibald.
The cast is led by Clifton Duncan (The Play That Goes Wrong, Off-Broadway’s Carmen Jones) as Coalhouse and Shannon Warne (Camelot at Pasadena Playhouse) as Mother, with Bryce Charles (The Book of Mormon national tour) as Sarah and Marc Ginsburg (Ovation nominee for Evita at Cabrillo Music Theatre) as Tateh.
The production also features Zachery Ford (Camelot at Pasadena Playhouse) as Father, Katherine McDonough (Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady at Musical Theatre West) as Evelyn Nesbit, Iara Nemirovsky (School of Rock national tour) as Little Girl, Valerie Perri (Evita, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway national tours) as Emma Goldman, Dylan Saunders (King Charles lll at Pasadena Playhouse) as Younger Brother, Benjamin Schrader (The Book of Mormon, Ragtime) as Harry Houdini, and Luké Barbato Smith (Debbie Allen’s Freeze Frame…Stop the Madness at The Wallis Annenberg and The Kennedy Center) as Little Boy.
The cast is rounded out by Dedrick Bonner as Booker T. Washington, Michael Deni as Male Ensemble, Ryan Dietz as Henry Ford, Cornelius Jones Jr. as Coalhouse’s Friend, Gregory North as Grandfather, Tom G. McMahon as J.P. Morgan, Molly Stilliens as Female Ensemble, Michael Thomas-VIsgar as Willie Conklin, and Candace J. Washington as Sarah’s Friend.
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Based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime has a book by Terrence McNally and a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens.
The production also has scenic design by Tom Buderwitz, costume design by Kate Bergh, lighting design by Jared A. Sayeg, sound design by Philip G. Allen, projection design by Hana Sooyeon Kim, and wig and hair design by Carol Doran.
Danny Feldman, Pasadena Playhouse producing artistic director, said in an earlier statement, “We’re thrilled to be producing one of the largest-scale projects in our history. Not only have we assembled a veritable fleet of actors, designers and musicians to bring this musical to life, with visionary director David Lee at the helm, but we are pleased that this production will employee over 100 LA-based theatre artists. This local production, created for our theatre, of Ragtime: The Musical will be a landmark theatrical event for Los Angeles once again.”
Tickets start at $25 and are available at PasadenaPlayhouse.org.
