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Ragtime

 I'm on the record with my reservations about "Ragtime," which too often asks its leads to "park and bark" generic, tedious ballads. It also uses a puzzling structure--the moment for the "I Want" number is actually occupied by Evelyn Nesbit, who does a forgettable dance and then disappears for approximately two hours.


All that said, I'm a fan of "Journey On." I'm a fan for a few reasons. First, the setup. Father is a bored, wealthy suburbanite who wants an adventure--so he volunteers to help Admiral Peary on a trip to the Arctic. What he fails to see is that the real adventure--the story that will captivate Americans in 2025--is the story of Mother back in New Rochelle. People are interested in how American women moved through the 20th century. People don't really talk about Admiral Peary--now--in 2025.

I also like that Tateh speculates about Father. Because Father is sealed off from his own soul, Father isn't going to tell us much about himself. But Tateh can fill in certain blanks:

Do you see in my face what you've lost, sir?
Are you moved by the death ship we sail upon?
Well, perhaps you're a man who's in search of his heart...
Journey on.

Then, there's an interesting discussion about the word "home." Understandably, Tateh's little girl wonders about Peary's ship. If it's not sailing to America--it's surely sailing to Eastern Europe? (If you're the little girl, it's likely there aren't any other spots in your mental map of the world.) Casually, the girl alludes to Eastern Europe as "home"--which causes Tateh to have a meltdown. "AMERICA is home now. We will never go back there."

This is fine writing--so often, a First Act is stronger than a Second Act.

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