Some fine lead performances and plenty of soaring full-cast harmonies shine in Actors Repertory Theater of Simi’s restaging of the Broadway classic Ragtime, but the move from the intimate Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center to the far larger El Portal Theatre mainstage proves more a minus than a plus.

 Based on E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel, with a Tony-winning book by Terrence McNally and a Tony-winning score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Ragtime takes us back to 1906 and an era of historic change in the United States, a time when the country found itself divided between The Haves (well-to-do early 20th-Century White Anglo-Saxon Protestants like Henry Ford and J.P. Morgan, both of whom are supporting characters in Ragtime) and The Have-Nots (working-lass African-Americans and fresh-off-the-boat Eastern European immigrants).

The Haves may have wanted to believe that “there were no Negroes and there were no immigrants,” but Ragtime’s fictional Mother, Father, Younger Brother, and Little Boy were soon to find out otherwise.

 Mother (Samantha Craton) takes in an African-American baby found in her garden along with the child’s unwed mother Sarah (Natalie Chavez). Mother’s Younger brother (Brennen Klitzner) becomes inspired by anarchist Emma Goldman (Rebecca Angel) to revolt against the status quo alongside Sarah’s lover, musician Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Roland Mills). And Mother’s life becomes intertwined with those of immigrant Tateh (Alex Mohajer) and his young daughter (Anna Marie Melendrez) alongside those already present in her own: Father (William Palo), Grandfather (Jeffrey Kucera), and Little Boy (Logan Filippi).

Ragtime manages to be both epic in its cast of major historical figures like illusionist Harry Houdini (Tim Realbuto), chorus girl Evelyn Nesbitt (Mia Vavasseur), auto mogul Henry Ford (Peter Fair), financier Morgan (Michael German), and African-American educator Booker T. Washington (Clifton Develle Cameron) and personal in its focus on Coalhouse’s efforts to win Sarah back, on Tateh and his daughter’s first steps towards becoming Americans, and on Mother’s growing disillusionment with her marriage.

If all these plot threads seem daunting in synopsis, McNally’s compelling book makes each thread surprisingly easy to follow.

More significant is the light Ragtime shines on a) where we were vis-à-vis class-and-race relations a century or so ago, b) how far we have come since then, and c) how far we as a nation have yet to go.

I missed ARTS’ Ragtime in its initial incarnation at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center this past winter (the photos accompanying this review are from that production and not the one I’m reviewing), but anyone who has seen shows up there and at the El Portal will probably agree that you can’t just plop down a SVCAC production on a stage twice that size without doing more than merely spreading out cast members to fit the new larger venue.

Not only this, but while Travis Miller and David Ralphe’s barebones set design may have been just enough at SVCAC, it comes across far too spare at the El Portal, and even assuming that Ian Kelley’s lighting design worked up in Simi Valley, it unfortunately doesn’t in North Hollywood where cast members are too often left in relative darkness.

And this is a real shame because under Ralphe’s direction, Mohajer (a warmly paternal, salt-of-the-earth Tateh), Craton (an incandescent Mother), Mills (a powerhouse Coalhouse), Chavez (an exquisite Sarah), and Klitzner (a spunky, passionate Younger Brother) all deliver the goods both as actors and as singers, and Vavasseur’s saucy Evelyn, Angel’s passionate Emma, and Filippi’s peppy Edgar stand out among supporting cast members.

In addition, when all of the aforementioned performers along with Deonte Allen, Josh Brewer, Noah Gephart Canada, M. Terra Cristelle, Grace Delto, Gabrielle Farley, Audrey Grace Fischer, Zina Goldman, Lex Gonzalez, Jameson Gwin, Emily Hall, Destiny Kiara, Dakota Rose Koep, Eric M. Millard, Vivian Mills, Marcello Padilla, Jack Rogers, Sarah Steiker, Prescott Stewart, Julian Lamont Walker, Mia Weiss, Javon Willis, and Emma Yarian join voices under Matt Park’s expert vocal direction, the result is stirring indeed.

Becky Castells’s choreography makes the most of a cast not made up of trained dancers (I liked the synchronized hand moves in two different production numbers), and ARTS’ live orchestra conducted by music director Garry Poirot is an added production plus as are producer Jan Glasband’s array of period costumes, and Ethan Strubbe’s sound design and live sound were mostly on point on opening night.

Dakota Koep is stage manager.

Having seen multiple Actors Repertory Theater Of Simi productions up in Simi Valley, I know what terrific work the Ventura County community theater is capable of producing. (Cases in point: Matilda The Musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, Big River, to name just three past winners.)

Still, what works in a 185-seat theater will likely need considerable restaging and redesigning to succeed equally well in a 360-seat house, and such is the case with Ragtime.

Though far from a bust, particularly where its lead performances and ensemble vocals are concerned, the transfer to from the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center to a much larger venue does this musical theater classic no favors.

El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.
www.elportaltheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
September 12 2025

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Tags: El Portal Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Terrence McNally