“Ragtime: The Musical” at Middlesex County Plays in the Park

This epic new musical paints a nostalgic and powerful portrait of life in turn of the century America by intertwining three distinct stories that poignantly illustrate history?s timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and love and hate. With a score that is as diverse as the melting pot of America that it seeks to recreate, "Ragtime" draws upon traditional Jewish folk sounds to color the haunting music of the European immigrants, Vaudevillian style to capture the spectacle of Anglo-American society, and Joplin and Jazz to invoke the enlivened spirit and rhythms of African-American, working-class Harlem. Winner of four of its thirteen 1998 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Orchestrations, it features such show-stopping songs as: Getting Ready Rag; Your Daddy?s Son; Wheels of a Dream; Till We Reach That Day; Back To Before; and Make Them Hear You.