The spectacular Mary Flower, one of the country’s premier finger-style acoustic blues/ragtime  guitarists and the ineluctable  Peter “Spud” Siegel, pianist/accordianist, trumpeter and vocalist nonpareil fill the Gerding with song this Saturday following the Ragtime matinee.

LIVE MUSIC EVERY SATURDAY!
Music Millennium, the place where people and music still matter, joins forces with PCS to present SOUNDS. LIKE. PORTLAND—an early evening showcase of the best in local music, every Saturday from 5-7 pm.

PCS’s production of Ragtime offers us an opportunity to take a keen look back at the physical and socio-cultural forces and aspirations that shaped our city (and in many respects continue to influence how we imagine progress and change), as well mine some of the historic connections between Ragtime-era New York and Portland. How did the Lewis & Clark Expo’s  infusion of commerce, chaos and the one- million visitors who came along for the ride influence the shape of the city? What role did labor activism, women’s suffrage, a radicalized middle-class play in shaping the public realm?  Did A.E. Doyle get all those buildings built by being a nice guy or through Macchavellian negotiations?  What was the City Beautiful all about?

Find out this Sunday:

Architecture, Power & Justice in Ragtime-era Portland
Sunday, October 25, 2 pm
Central Library (801 S.W. 10th in downtown Portland)
Discussion moderated by Randy Gragg, former architecture critic for the Oregonian and Portland Monthly editor, featuring historians Jan Dilg and Chet Orloff, and Philip Niles, author of Beauty of the City: A.E. Doyle, Portland’s Architect. Cosponsored by AIA Center for Architecture, in conjunction with the Portland Architecture and Design Festival. FREE

Another program that puts IDEAS IN PLAY
Portland Center Stage’s IDEAS in PLAY series asks: What do shared stories tell us about who we are and what we believe? Come explore theater, culture and community interconnectedness. Let stories come to life in unexpected ways through conversation-driven programs that ask—what’s the big idea?

Redirect! Law & Order in the Theater (with Judy Snyder)
Sunday, October 18
(following the 2 pm Matinee of Ragtime)
Main Stage

Join us this Sunday for a  new partnership with Multnomah Bar Association that invites attorneys to roll up their sleeves and  informally “cross-examine” the lively  ideas on the stage. This Sunday’s post-show conversation will feature attorney Judy Snyder looking at themes of law, liberty, justice and freedom in Ragtime. Snyder (who has been a trial attorney for 34 years–including a lengthy stint in the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office) brings a fantastic legal perspective and great sense of conversation, context and wit to the stage. This look at how we how we imagine progress and change promises to be an animated discussion all around! Free with theater admission.

Another program that puts IDEAS IN PLAY
Portland Center Stage’s IDEAS in PLAY series asks: What do shared stories tell us about who we are and what we believe? Come explore theater, culture and community interconnectedness. Let stories come to life in unexpected ways through conversation-driven programs that ask—what’s the big idea?

SOUNDS. LIKE. PORTLAND, Music Millennium & PCS’s new early evening music showcase continues this Saturday (and every week) from 5-7 pm in the Lobby of the Gerding Theater. Free—and all ages.

For October, in conjunction with our production of Ragtime, we feature blues/ragtime guitar master Mary Flower, jazz-blues-gospel pianist extraordinaire Janice Scroggins +  Nafisaria Scroggins Thomas, Spud Siegel, Alan Hager.

Did I mention it’s free? Come early–it’s the weekend, it’s 5′0′clock,  areety: have a drink and a delectable snack from the Armory Cafe.

{Mother (Susannah Mars) greets Tateh (Leif Norby) while their children (Alex Thede and Anna Bishop) make each other’s acquaintance in Ragtime.}

In case the Oregonian and audience raves weren’t enough, we’re delighted to report that both the Willamette Week and the Mercury found Chris Coleman’s production of Ragtime very strong. But don’t take our word for it…

First, Alison Hallett from The Mercury:

“Portland Center Stage (PCS) does tremendous work here. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better treatment: Every single aspect of the production seems geared toward counterbalancing the script’s overblown elements, with some success. Joel Ferrell’s choreography is balanced and effective; the set is deceptively simple, a multi-tiered backdrop that takes on shades of menace or wistfulness courtesy of Peter Maradudin’s spectacular lighting. The cast is the best money can buy, and as always, it’s satisfying to note that standout performances come from a couple of locals: Leif Norby as Tateh, the bearded Jewish father, and Susannah Mars as the stymied housewife. There’s even a performance from a little boy (Alex Thede) that isn’t the theatrical equivalent of chewing on tinfoil—a rarity among child performers.”

Read the rest of the review.

And last, but by no means least, Ben Waterhouse from the Willamette Week:

“As a subversive work of musical theater… Ragtime is a rousing success.”

“The greatest achievement of the musical is granting much-needed pathos to the character of Coalhouse Walker—a black piano player who responds to the trashing of his car by a gang of white volunteer firefighters by forming a revolutionary terrorist organization—for whom Doctorow shows little sympathy. Broadway veteran Gavin Gregory assaults the role with smoldering fury. His two big numbers are crushing. He is the face of defeated aspiration, of the American dream destroyed by careless cruelty. We may like to pretend, as we enter the new century, that the troubles of the last are buried; watching Coalhouse, you know they’re anything but.”

Read the rest of the review.

What did you think of the show? Join the conversation about Ragtime here.

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