 RAGS
Music by Charles Strouse: Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz: Book by Joseph
Stein
Opened 21 August 1986 - Mark Hellinger Theatre (4 Perfs)
Synopsis
Rebecca, a Russian Jewish immigrant to the US at the turn of the century
finds, to her dismay, that her husband who has preceded her, is determined
to assimilate the American way and lose his ethnic identity in order to
climb the social ladder. Subplots concern an elderly immigrant, his daughter
and their respective romances, one of which ends tragically. It is a saga
of hope and disappointments, of power and greed, of strength and love
combined with memorable music.
THE STORY
It is 1910, the height of the great wave of immigration flooding into
America from Eastern Europe.
Five Jewish immigrants come over in steerage on the same boat: Rebecca
Hershkowitz, fleeing a pogrom that destroyed her village, has come with
her young son, David in hopes of being reunited with her husband, Nathan.
Nathan has been in America for several years but has not yet sent for
them. Avram Cohen and his teenage daughter, Bella, have come in search
of a better life. And Ben Levitowitz, a brash young man who has fallen
in love with Bella, has come to make his fortune in a land where the streets
are said to be paved with gold.
They are processed at Ellis Island along with hordes of others. Rebecca
is not met by her husband, so she and David are given temporary shelter
by Avram and Bella. Frightened and exhausted on their first night in the
new world, they are nonetheless dazzled by the wonderful sights around
them.
Rebecca's search for Nathan seems hopeless, but when she is most discouraged,
she remembers all she and David have gone through to get to America.
The five immigrants go to work: Rebecca in a sweatshop, Bella doing piecework
at home, Ben in a cigar factory, and Avram and David peddling from a pushcart.
Their long hours and backbreaking labour are leavened by the music of
an itinerant Klezmer band.
Saul, a fiery labour organiser, is trying to unionise the shop where
Rebecca works. He and Rebecca don't see eye-to-eye about "making trouble;"
but he does persuade her to educate herself and David. One night, after
an exhilarating outing to see a performance of Hamlet at the Yiddish
theatre, Rebecca finds to her distress that she is falling in love
with Saul.
In the meantime, Bella is becoming bitterly disillusioned with the drabness
of her life in America. Although she is momentarily diverted when Ben
brings her a new gramophone, she hurls her feelings of frustration at
her father and runs off to gaze longingly at the high life of the uptown
swells.
Meanwhile, at a local Irish pub, a meeting of Tammany politicians is
underway. And who should be among them but Rebecca's husband, Nathan.
He has renamed himself Nat Harris and is working his way up in local politics,
doing dirty work for the corrupt Democratic machine. When he hears Rebecca
and David are in America, he hurries off to look for them.
Rebecca and Saul are spending more and more time together. But when David
puts Saul's fighting ideas into practice with a gang of local hoodlums,
he winds up getting badly beaten up. Rebecca sees this as repeating the
danger and violence they had come to America to escape. She breaks with
Saul. And just as she does, Nathan arrives.
As Act Two begins, the family celebrates their reunion at the Cherry
Street Café where Nathan, ever the politician, works the room.
But privately, he reveals to Rebecca his contempt for immigrants like
themselves and his determination to assimilate. Although Rebecca tells
Saul she can never see him again, their feelings for one another remain
strong.
Romance is also on the mind of Avram, who has become the choice of Rachel,
a widow with strong opinions and an empty apartment. Bella still has her
hopes set on Ben who, with David's help, is becoming successful with a
gimmick to sell gramophones.
Then tragedy strikes: Bella is killed in a sweatshop fire. Rebecca is
devastated ... and radicalised. She leads a strike against sweatshop conditions.
And she defies Nathan, who fears his wife's radicalism will endanger his
political career. Nathan leaves her, and Rebecca remains with Saul and
the strikers.
They have endured hardship, heartbreak, wrenching change, and the fairest
of them has perished, but in the end Rebecca, David, Avram, and Ben have
begun to make a new life in their new world ... as another boatload of
immigrants arrives.
(Stephen Schwartz) |
