Drury Lane's 'Ragtime' a resounding success that sets the bar high

You don't often hear, at the beginning of a show, the kind of effusive applause that greeted the opening number of Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook's bravura revival of "Ragtime."

Such a response typically accompanies a musical's 11 o'clock showstopper. That it came so early made me wonder if director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell's production could sustain such enthusiasm.

It does. And how.

Inspired by E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel about America at the turn of the last century, "Ragtime" is a richly textured musical - epic in scope and uncompromising in its depiction of a gloriously imperfect nation struggling to establish its identity. A condemnation of racism, a critique of unrestrained capitalism and a satire on celebrity culture, "Ragtime" is also a celebration of compassion, tolerance, determination and independence. Set in 1906 and adapted for the stage in 1996, "Ragtime" is a rousing and altogether moving portrait of an era and a reflection of a nation still struggling with its past demons.

With a soaring Stephen Flaherty score infused with Joplinesque flair, revealing lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and a deftly crafted book by Terrance McNally, "Ragtime" improves with each viewing the way wine improves with age. To that end, Drury Lane's gloriously sung, inventively staged production is a fine vintage. Moreover, this grand incarnation (its 36-member cast is the largest in Drury Lane history) may become the standard by which future "Ragtime" productions are judged.

Artistically, it fires on all cylinders, from Roberta Duchak's robust music direction, to Santo Loquasto's handsome costumes (which he designed for last year's Broadway revival), to Kevin Depinet's spare but evocative set paired with Sage Marie Carter's shrewdly integrated video projections to conjure locales from Ellis Island, to a Ford auto plant, to the Jersey Shore.

Rockwell's superb cast includes veterans of 2009's Broadway revival including Quentin Earl Darrington, as jazz pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr., and Valisia LeKae, as his beloved Sarah, along with local standouts Summer Naomi Smart, Max Quinlan, Mark David Kaplan and Larry Adams.

But much of the credit for this masterful production rests with Rockwell and her inspired direction. It's apparent in the opening number where Rockwell introduces characters - the wealthy, white Anglo-Saxon protestants, the African-Americans from Harlem and the newly arrived immigrants - by having each group rise through the trap door at center stage in a visual expression of the bootstrap idiom. That segues into a "musical chairs" sequence, which is as astute a representation of racial, class and cultural tension as I've seen on stage. It's one of several powerful images - workers crushed under the weight of industrialist J.P. Morgan; a sheltered housewife asserting her independence barefoot and alone - Rockwell incorporates into a sprawling narrative that weaves together the stories of three families pursuing the American dream.

At the center is Coalhouse, the optimistic musician turned brokenhearted vigilante played with maturity and authority by the charismatic Darrington. Beside him is Sarah (the angelic LeKae) who, after she gives birth to their child, is taken by Mother (a compassionate, self-aware Cory Goodrich), to the dismay of her conservative husband, played with a restless yearning by Larry Adams.

Meanwhile, Mother's morally outraged Younger Brother (played by Quinlan with a combination of futility and disillusion) finds a cause to champion in the social justice movement spearheaded by activist Emma Goldman (a fiery Catherine Lord). Goldman is one of several historical characters who figure into the musical, which features the always-appealing Smart as "it girl" Evelyn Nesbit and Stef Tovar as illusionist Harry Houdini.

Last but not least, there is Mark David Kaplan's heartwarming, multifaceted performance as the artist Tateh, the Latvian Jew who arrives in America with his young daughter, eager to embrace its promise of a better life and ready to work to make it so.