Har Shalom Players

The Har Shalom Players 2025 Annual Musical is Ragtime!

Written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens), noted playwright Terrence McNally, and based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, Ragtime won the 1998 Tony Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. 

Ragtime is set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, where three distinctly American tales are woven together – that of a stifled upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician – united by their courage, compassion and belief in the promise of the future. Together, they confront history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America.

The Tony-winning score is just as diverse as the melting pot of America itself, drawing upon many musical styles, from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the Lower East Side, from bold brass band marches to delicate waltzes, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlor songs and expansive anthems. A truly unique and powerful portrait of America!

Auditions and invitation only callbacks for Ragtime will be tentatively held in late September. Updated audition information will be provided in future Har Shalom emails and at: harshalom.org/hsplayers. Children must be 8 years old to participate.  Children ages 8-9 who are cast must have parental supervision on days when called for rehearsal.

For auditions, please be prepared to:

• Sing 16 bars of a song in the style of the show that displays your vocal range. An accompanist will be provided. You can bring your own music sheet, a blue-tooth enabled track, or sing a cappella.
• Read a brief selection of dialogue from Ragtime script.  
• Complete a calendar of all your conflicts from November through the performances of the show February 1 - 2, 2025.  

The production team is led by Shelly Horn (Director), and Ken Lechter and Stew Remer (Producers).  Ragtime is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com   

Any questions about the show or auditions can be sent to play@harshalom.org.