Ragtime

"It was the music Of something beginning, An era exploding, A century spinning" -- Lyric from the title song of "Ragtime" The musical "Ragtime" may take place at the turn of the 20th century, but at the turn of the 21st it offers a glimpse of our own lives on stage. "Ragtime" -- which opens at the Mechanic Theatre Tuesday -- not only boasts a powerful score, plot, characters and staging, it is a rare, transcendent example of a Broadway musical whose underlying themes are equally powerful.

The musical "Ragtime" interweaves the stories of three fictitious families with various historical figures. Here's a rundown of some of the real-life characters: Henry Ford (1863-1947). Automobile manufacturer who pioneered the assembly line, on which 15 million affordable Model T cars were mass-produced between 1908 and 1928. Ford Motor Co. became the world's largest automobile manufacturer; the company's founder kept unions out of his plant until 1941. Emma Goldman (1869-1940). Russian-born anarchist who immigrated to the United States in 1886.

Four stars of the touring production of "Ragtime" at the Mechanic Theatre will take part in a chat on The Sun's Web site, SunSpot.net, this week: Lawrence Hamilton ("Coalhouse") reprises the role he played on Broadway. He has also appeared in the Broadway productions of "Jelly's Last Jam," "Porgy and Bess" and "Sophisticated Ladies." Jim Corti ("Tateh") originally played Harry Houdini in "Ragtime." He has also performed in "A Chorus Line" and "Candide" in New York, as well as in the touring production of "Cabaret" with Joel Grey.

Setting: A smoky night at Aggie Shelton's house of ill repute near Gay and Aisquith streets. Circa: 1898. Scene: Card sharks, hustlers and gamblers come and go all night long. Women lounge in the parlor, converse and occasionally take a customer upstairs. Everybody is white, except for the 15-year-old black kid at the piano. Lord knows he's not supposed to be here. His mama would have a fit. She's a good, Christian woman. But every night her son sneaks out of the family's home at 424 N. Eden St., rents a pair of long pants from a local pool hall owner for a quarter and makes his way to Miss Aggie's.

A bevy of musicals and the Broadway tryout of a new one-woman show about Tallulah Bankhead, starring Kathleen Turner, will highlight the 2000-2001 Mechanic Theatre season. "What I'm really trying to do is get us back into pre-Broadway, back into the incubation process," said Michael J. Brand, executive director of the Mechanic. With six shows, the season will have one less subscription offering than the current season, which opened with the unconventional "Tony n' Tina's Wedding," presented at Scarlett Place, where it is now in its fifth month (see below)

"IF I'D KNOWN I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself," Eubie Blake remarked while celebrating his 100th birthday.Sadly, if he hadn't lived until he was 100, James Herbert "Eubie" Blake wouldn't be the household name he is. What a shame if younger people had missed the pleasure that his music brings."Love Will Find a Way." "Memories of You." "I'm Just Wild About Harry" (Harry Truman's presidential campaign song in 1948). Those were among the 300 songs he wrote.The revival of ragtime in the late 1960s and 1970s, with its syncopat- ed rhythms and feel-good quality, brought Blake out of retirement.

Editor's note: The story of the musician and composer who helped shape the future of jazzDuke's name fit him rightly. He was a smooth-talkin', slick-steppin', piano-playin' kid. But his piano playing wasn't always as breezy as his stride. When Duke's mother, Daisy, and his father, J.E., enrolled him in piano lessons, Duke didn't want to go. Baseball was Duke's idea of fun. But his parents had other notions for their child.Duke had to start with the piano basics, his fingers playing the same tired tune -- one-and-two-and-one-and-two.

A SONIC revolution started 100 years ago, ignited by a joyous, herky-jerky, syncopated beat. Everywhere, it seemed, people could not get enough of this new music. They wrote songs about it, danced to it.The music was ragtime, and its signature song, Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag," was published in 1899. "Maple Leaf" is the biggest-selling piece of instrumental ragtime music. Perhaps 1 million copies ended up in American homes before phonographs and piano rolls killed the market for sheet music.

Today:Hickory Plains Farm's Red Star Rose, the lone added-money winner in a field of seven, is the choice to capture the Deputed Testamony Stakes for 3-year-old Maryland-breds. The 13th running of the $75,000 event will be contested over 1 1/8 miles. Trained by Hamilton Smith, Red Star Rose won the Maryland Juvenile Championship after a near miss in the Rollicking Stakes, also for state-breds. In his most recent outing, the son of Proud Truth faced open company in the Miracle Wood and finished a respectable third.