The Big Show
Ragtime is "interesting because, at its roots, I think it's about change and how we react to change," director Gary Gisselman says.
Image credit: Park Square Theatre
Park Square Theatre is preparing to open their biggest production ever – the musical Ragtime, which tells the stories of three families during turn-of-the-century America.
In anticipation of its opening, METRO caught up with director Gary Gisselman to discuss how he fell into the role, the challenges and triumphs of working on such a massive show and how it relates to the present day.
METRO: What's your background working with Park Square Theatre and how did you come to direct Ragtime?
Gisselman: I’ve done a couple of shows with them in the last 10 or 15 years. The last one I did was a production of Pacific Overtures that they did with Theater Mu and then I did a production of The Fantasticks some years before that. Richard [Cook, artistic director at Park Square] called, and he asked if I'd be interested in doing Ragtime.
I had seen it in New York when it opened, and I was just overwhelmed by it. I thought it was such a huge show and never thought that I would get a chance to direct it. So when he called I was intrigued by it. It still is a huge show – it didn’t get smaller in the mean time. But the one thing I like about our ability to do it here is I think it's a more intimate production, and that's not to its disadvantage.
What has it been like staging such a big production?
It's been really hard. We tried to keep it as minimal as possible, so we wouldn't have to be shifting big scenery pieces, so the set is fairly much a set unit. We just use six or eight wood chairs, a table, and all of the other furniture pieces, like the piano and car, are just silhouetted. In the original production, they have a real full car; it's really dramatic. That just takes tons and tons of money to do. We certainly convey the idea of what happens, so I don't think it's a serious problem.
The core of the story is what's interesting. You have Mother of the New Rochelle, N.Y. family, Coalhouse Walker of the African Americans in Harlem, and Tateh representing immigrants. It's so interesting because, at its roots, I think it's about change and how we react to change.
The New Rochelle people have a life that they like. It's white, it's privileged, it's stable, and they want to keep it that way. Then all of a sudden there are all of these African Americans moving north, so their lives are beginning to be influenced by this. And then all of these immigrants are coming in. You have one group trying to stop change, another group that's here seeking change, and another group that's trying to figure out how they fit into the change.
What do you think is unique about the musical Ragtime and this production specifically?
There's so much thru-singing and so much underscoring. The music is going constantly. It has become a huge challenge getting the balance between the orchestra, which is onstage behind the set, and the mics. We're still working on that.
The other interesting thing is [Ragtime is] less psychologically motivated than it is motivated by event. In the play The History Boys, they said, "History is just one damn thing after another," and that's the feeling of this sometimes. One event just happens after another, and we always look for meanings and causes and connections. Sometimes they're there, and sometimes they don't seem to be.
A lot of the scenes are very short. I think the longest scene in the play is perhaps four minutes. You don't have long scenes in which to develop the characters. They have to come somewhat fully fleshed, and that's a real challenge for the actors.
You've directed a lot of musicals over the years, so what appeals to you most about the musical genre?
I have great respect for it. I think there are many people who easily dismiss musicals, and I think that's a mistake. I think Ragtime is an attempt to deal with sweep and history and size in a fairly seriously way, and I think musicals can do that. They're just some people who the minute someone starts singing on stage that's so unreal to them that they can't accept that, but I don't find that a problem.
Do you think a show about turn-of-the-century America in the early 1900s is still relevant today?
It's so relevant. You suddenly become aware of how cyclical things are, and some of our issues do not really go away. Watch the Republican debates, which is far more painful than watching any musical! The same issues are coming up: the issue of wealth and taxes for the rich and for the poor. Race is still an important part of our dialogue, and immigration certainly is. We haven't settled that yet.
What do you hope audiences take away from seeing Ragtime?
We have to continue to struggle. Our country is never going to be totally at rest with itself and shouldn't be. I had a really good friend who I worked summer stock with many years ago. His parents had a farm in Iowa. They raised cows that sold milk to Carnation Milk, and their motto was, "Milk from contented cows." My friend would say, "Our cows are not contented. They're always striving to do better."
I think that's sort of the story of our country. We keep seeking contentment and harmony, and that's a good thing. I think we do find it on occasion, but we are always striving to do better. There are some people who hate to hear any criticism of capitalism or of the way things are if they're comfortable with the way things are, but there are always people who are not comfortable.
Emma Goldman is a character in the play, and she was a strong socialist and said she was a socialist. Now you call anyone a socialist and oh my God! It's become not only a terrible idea of how to run a society, it's also become religiously evil somehow because religion has captured so much of our political dialogue right now.
It begins to have good and evil connotations rather than one system versus another system, or one way of looking at the world versus another way of looking at the world. I think that's what we need to get back to, and I think Ragtime is one way of looking at the world.
+ Gary Gisselman has directed shows at the Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theatre, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Bloomington Civic Theatre and Arizona Theatre Company. He currently teaches theater at St. Olaf College. Ragtime opens on Friday, Jan. 27, and the productions runs at the Park Square Theatre through Feb. 19. For tickets and more information, visit, parksquaretheatre.org.
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