Tamarac residents Andre Russell and Victoria Anderson.
By: Sharon Aron Baron
Two actors who hail from Tamarac, are appearing in Slow Burn Theater Company’s production of Ragtime at the Broward Center.
Tamarac residents Andre Russell and Victoria Anderson appear in the Broadway show. Russel portrays American educator Booker T. Washington, and actress Victoria Anderson is a member of the ensemble.
They’re in one of the most highly-anticipated productions of the theatrical season when JetBlue presents Ragtime in the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Friday, March 20-Sunday, April 5.
The winner of Tony Awards for Best Score, Book, and Orchestrations, Ragtime boasts two Broadway runs in a dozen years with a revival in 2009 following its premiere in 1998.
The musical is based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel, which was selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time.
The hit show’s pedigree is just as stellar with a creative team of award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on This Island, Seussical and Lucky Stiff) and noted playwright Terrence McNally.
Ragtime weaves an American tapestry of historical and fictitious characters that tracks three families in New York at the start of the 20th Century. The lives of wealthy men and women, immigrants, African Americans, jazz musicians, union organizers, and early moviemakers intertwine as they pursue life, love, and often-illusive justice.
Other famous and infamous historical figures in the musical are Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Emma Goldman, Henry Ford, and J.P. Morgan.
Slow Burn Artistic Director Patrick Fitzwater, who directs the production, said that while the setting and historical characters might classify Ragtime as a period piece, it’s as current as today’s headlines.
“The heart of the show is about issues that are important today as they were in the early 1900s,” he said. “Audiences connect to the timeless human emotions of love and loss as they recognize the excitement of living in a time of historic change.”
Noting it would feature “great musical theater actors with big voices,” the Miami Herald chose Slow Burn Theatre Company’s staging of Ragtime to be one of nine stellar stage performances planned this year.
Performances begin Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. and continue through Sunday, April 5 with performances Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. with additional matinee performances Wednesday, March 25 at 11 a.m. and Saturday, March 21 and April 4 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $49-$65. Ticketmaster is the only official ticketing service of the Broward Center, Parker Playhouse, and affiliated venues. Buy tickets online at BrowardCenter.org or Ticketmaster.com; by phone at 954.462.0222 or the Broward Center’s AutoNation Box Office.
The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located in the Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District at 201 SW Fifth Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.