Angels in America, Our Town and Ragtime are as different as night and day.
Yet, each production asks the same question: What does it mean to be an American? Curiously, in all three productions, the answer is left to playgoers.

You can see this for yourself as all three shows are currently playing the Valley. Technically, each has their pluses and minuses. Spiritually, each production rings louder than the sum of its voices, with the question of What makes an Americanan American? lingering long after the curtain falls. Its no accident these three plays have found a home on Valley stages when they have. Since September 11, 2001, the whole world is asking Who are these Americans and what do they stand for?
That was also an extremely hot topic in the years before World War I, the period of Ragtime, the musical based on E. L. Doctorows 1975 American epic. Most Europeans viewed Englands former colonies as little more than a third world nation that didnt have a chance of long-term survival. They werent far off the mark, given the divisions that shake up the people peopling Ragtime.

We have an upper crust white Protestant family from New Rochelle, New York. Father (Michael McCabe, stiff upper lip and all) is a successful businessman whod rather roam the Arctic with Admiral Perry than stay at home. And so he does, an absence that allows Mother (Mesas Debby Rosenthal) to toss off her door mat role and grow into a real, live thinking woman. Egging her on is Younger Brother (pensive Nathaniel Keuter), a callow fellow whos doing his flawed best to become his own unflawed man.

Mothers new found independence is put to the test when she finds an abandoned baby. Despite protests from nearly everyone, she takes in the child and its mother (Carmen Keels). The boys father is Coalhouse Walker (Toby Blackwell), a pianist whose efforts to see his child in an all-white neighborhood set in motion unsettling events usually not seen in musicals at dinner theaters. You have to give Broadway Palm Dinner Theater credit for even attempting Ragtime. First off, its running time is typically three hours. Purists will not be happy that director Seth Reines has lopped off a half hour, one fun song (What a Game) and an entire character (magician Harry Houdini). But the many playgoers who arrive for dinner at 6 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show will surely be thanking Reines for every shaved second. With three intertwined stories, Ragtime could be hard to follow. But its not. Rosenthal (despite an unusually inconsistent soprano on opening night) anchors the heavy material as the heart of compassion, kind of a flesh-and-blood Statue of Liberty.

Blackwell is the shows soul, as his character fights for whats right, although with questionable tactics. Blackwell also offers the evenings most stirring solo, Make Them Hear You, as well as the most memorable duet, The Wheels of a Dream, done with dreamy-eyed conviction with Keels.

Ragtimes third party is a fresh-off-the-boat widowed Jewish father and daughter. Chris George and Kimiko Glenn come across as genuine, but this father-and-child pairing always comes off somewhat awkwardly, as if they are merely observers to the main action involving Mothers family and Coalhouses troubles. The case could be made that Doctorow uses the two as a metaphor for the entire immigrant population, but thats a stretch. Theyre introduced as one-third of Ragtimes story, yet they always seem on the sidelines.

Reines deletion of Houdini excepted, Doctorow makes excellent use of historical figures. Danika Osterman is pure fun as Evelyn Nesbit, the Madonna of her day. Her Crime of the Century number could have been pulled straight from todays trash TV. Not at all fun is anarchist Emma Goldman. Elizabeth Loos grounds this social activist with the serious voice for which she was known the world over. Wayne Carr is dignity personified as Booker T. Washington, the legendary African-American who looked to education to lift up his people.

Other big names from turn-of-the-20th-century New York come and go like a cavalcade of world-famous Americans. Henry Ford (David Craven), J. P. Morgan and Admiral Perry (Gil Berry) and others all add to the very real perception that America was on the verge of becoming a genuine world power on the eve of World War I.
Production-wise, Fridays opening was marred. More than once, body mikes made that ear-splitting fritzing noise. At other times, secondary players of the ensemble could barely be heard. Choreographer Gretchen Burghart has yet to get the African-American chorus dancing in flawless step. Lighting designer Russell Thompsons timing on the spotlights certainly needs synchronized.

On the plus side muiscal director J. R. McAlexander handles Stephen Flahertys mixed bag of musical styles with aplomb. Resident costumer Tim Slopes makes eye-popping use of gorgeous period pieces from the Broadway production as well as some of his own creations. Of particular interest are T. John Weltziens sets. Hes renown for overpowering stages with froufrou.

But here in a period when affected elegance was in style, Weltzien is subdued, merely suggesting the flowery interior and exterior designs of the era.
For all its emphasis on the American family, Ragtime is not a family show. True to the period, redneck characters frequently shout the n word at the musicals people of color. In these tense times, Coalhouses climatic attempt to blow up a library is more nerve-wracking than when Ragtime first appeared in 96. More pragmatically, all but the most attentive preteens will be taxed by the shows two-and-half hour length. Given the complexities of putting on Ragtime, its not a musical that will have frequent local productions. Those who are curious about how Doctorows best seller fares on stage will have their curiosity satisfied here. However, we suggest you wait a week or two. Something tells us that with all the talented people involved here, this is one show that will improve with age.

REVIEW
Ragtime: The Musical
B, three stars
Who: Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
When: 6 p.m. Sat., Thu.-Fri., 11:45 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sun., 11:45 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wed. Ends. Nov. 16.
Where: 5247 E. Brown Road, Mesa
Cost: $22 (show only); $35- $41 (dinner and show). Information: