`super Conference' Needs Adjustments To Serve All Teams 
When The Wyoming Valley West Swimming Team Destroys Scranton Prep, There Is No 
Blood In The Water.

4th Suit Filed Against City's `impact' Team

Sunday, January 18, 1998 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1G 





Life's rhythm in `Ragtime' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The sweeping new musical, already dubbed an epic by some, recounts
turbulent &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; American times through the stories of three families"It was the music of
something beginning, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 An era exploding, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A century spinning, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In riches and rags, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 and in rhythm and rhyme, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The people called it Ragtime ...."- &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lyric from "Ragtime" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 By BOB NOCEK &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Times Leader Staff Writer &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Ragtime, at the height of its popularity, was called the "devil's music"
because of the push and pull of its syncopation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 How fitting then, that this lively music provided a soundtrack for both
America in the early 20th Century and for "Ragtime," the new musical that
chronicles three families in this tumultuous time. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The nation was changing rapidly in the industrial age, as immigrants
arrived in a torrent, and women and blacks were moved to demand a greater
position in the world. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It is these remarkable transformations that propel "Ragtime," the musical
based on E.L. Doctorow's best-selling novel, which opens today on Broadway at
the luxuriantly reborn Ford Center for the Performing Arts. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Ragtime," wrote Laurie Winer in the Los Angeles Times, "has the rare
distinction of being timely, even as it promises to be timeless." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 This grand musical is the product of a creative process begun in 1993 by
Toronto-based Livent, Inc. and chairman Garth Drabinsky. That process can be
seen in "Creating Ragtime," the PBS Great Performances special that airs on
WVIA-TV this Wednesday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Ragtime" already has been acclaimed in Toronto and Los Angeles, where it
ran before arriving on Broadway for previews in December. It is regarded by
many to have reached an elite status as an epic American musical, a portrait
of three lives- a Victorian WASP family in New Rochelle, N.Y.; an immigrant
and his daughter from Latvia; and a black piano player from Harlem, his fiance
and their son. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It was a well that never threatened to run dry," said Terrence McNally,
the Tony-winning author who was solicited to write the book for "Ragtime," in
the PBS special. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 While the musical is about these characters, it is also about America and
the changes taking place. And to that end, an assortment of real-life figures
are used throughout the play. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Booker T. Washington confronts Coalhouse Walker, the Harlem singer whose
cause has turned violent. Others, like Henry Ford and showgirl Evelyn Nesbitt,
whose husband's murder trial was one of the great scandals of the period, are
featured. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And Harry Houdini, the immigrant escape artist, plays a prominent role.
(The Livent Web site even offers a link to the Houdini Museum in Scranton). &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We use the historical characters as emblems," McNally said in the special. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 America, as a melting pot, was bubbling over. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That's what "Ragtime" tries to capture. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "There was a cracking of surfaces, an eruption of forces that were all kept
in check in the 19th century," director Frank Galati said in "Creating
Ragtime." "The respectable, staid, white Anglo-Saxon family, patriarchal in
composition ... was not really going to survive." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 `Ragtime' is based on E.L. Doctorow's novel about the early 20th Century.
Below, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald in `Ragtime.' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 BOX: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Four routes to `Ragtime' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ON STAGE &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 `Ragtime,' at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, W. 42nd St., New
York. For sh

Life's Rhythm In `ragtime' 
The Sweeping New Musical, Already Dubbed An Epic By Some, Recounts Turbulent 
American Times Through The Stories Of Three Families.

Life's Rhythm In `ragtime' The Sweeping New Musical, Already Dubbed An Epic By Some, Recounts Turbulent American Times Through The Stories Of Three Families.