The production does not simply point backward and congratulate us for having moved beyond the uglier parts of our history, nor does it offer the comfortable explanation that a handful of powerful people were responsible for them. Instead, it asks audiences to look at the people on stage, the wealthy and poor, Black and white, immigrants and native-born, activists and industrialists, parents and children, and recognize the forces that collectively determine what America becomes. The American Dream runs throughout Ragtime, but the musical is less interested in whether that dream exists than in who gets to pursue it, who gets to define it and who controls the door. Village Theatre’s production understands that question. It feels less like a history lesson than a mirror.

- The Sound On Stage