An American Quilt : With the Can-Do Spirit of Early Immigrants, Cypress College Pieces Together ‘Rags’ to Near-Riches

Before “Ragtime,” there was “Rags.”

Similar in name, both shows also focus on the early years of this century, when mass immigration turned America into a land of dazzling diversity.

Hope crashes headlong into prejudice in both stories, only to be rekindled in the realization that if fear could be set aside and walls torn down, the resulting blend of thought and talent could transform this into the truly great nation that it wants to be.

But “Rags” is rarely staged nowadays, and the success of “Ragtime,” which seems poised for Broadway greatness, appears certain to drive “Rags” further into obscurity. (It closed after just four performances on Broadway in 1986, but that was due as much to personnel problems as to any problems inherent in the script or score.)

All the more reason, then, to see the ambitious staging playing through Sunday at Cypress College. Though “Rags” is sometimes awkwardly told (and almost always too gloomy), it pairs a powerful story with rich, emotionally saturated songs.

The Cypress production--which draws on the talents of faculty, students and community members--is uneven too. Yet it is blessed overall with fresh spirit and fierce commitment.

“Rags”--with a book by Joseph Stein (“Fiddler on the Roof”), music by Charles Strouse (“Annie”) and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell”)--picks up, essentially, where “Fiddler” leaves off, for the central characters are Jews fleeing Russia’s pogroms by sailing to America.

The Cypress production, directed by theater instructor Eve Himmelheber, begins with a throat-catching image of ragged figures huddled on the deck of a boat as a young mother sings, “We’re children of the wind, blown across the Earth.”

Arriving at Ellis Island, the mother, Rebecca (Nancy Wood), and her young son, David (Kirby Hanlon), are almost sent right back to Russia when their husband / father, whom they haven’t seen in six years, doesn’t show up to claim them. But Bella (Erica Munoz), a friend from the ocean passage, coaxes her father, Avram (Sean K. Estipona), to intervene.

To support herself and David, Rebecca takes a job in one of New York’s notorious garment sweatshops, where she becomes another of the anonymous women hunched over their sewing machines.

The city’s mean streets--lined with rundown tenements as well as ambitious new construction projects--are cleverly evoked in faculty member Diana Polsky’s design, with its metal scaffolds and walls partly constructed of vintage photographs of people on the teeming streets or in factories.

A ready source of cheap labor, many of the incoming immigrants are destined to go on living in rags, looked down upon by the already established classes. This clash is vividly evoked in a sequence in which the stately dances of elegantly dressed couples at a Tammany government party are contrasted against vibrant Jewish folk dances at the sides of the stage. At the height of the dances, choreographed by instructor Kaye Ragland-Vergona, the two groups surge toward each other yet never commingle.

More multicultural even than the groups depicted in the play, the Cypress cast represents the many faces of America.

With her Broadway / pop singing voice and air of quiet determination, Wood’s Rebecca--coming into her own as both a woman and an American--embodies this nation in the making. As David, the show’s narrator, 11-year-old Hanlon is an engaging presence and a solid singer-actor.

Munoz and Estipona lend strong vocal support; Milton Polsky contributes a vivid performance as a gruff sweatshop owner; and Geegi Casados adds much-needed comic relief as a lonely lady with designs on Avram.

Much about “Rags” is duplicated in “Ragtime”: the boy narrator, the depersonalization of Ellis Island, the clashing classes, the nascent labor movement and more. Still, it’s a better show than many of Broadway’s supposed successes. We can only hope that, with the arrival of “Ragtime,” it won’t be consigned to the scrap pile.

*

* “Rags,” Cypress College main stage, 9200 Valley View St., Cypress. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, matinee 3 p.m. Sunday. $8. (714) 821-6320. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes.

Nancy Wood: Rebecca

Kirby Hanlon: David

Erica Munoz: Bella

Sean K. Estipona: Avram

William F. Lett: Saul

Milton Polsky: Bronstein

Shane Kennedy: Ben

David Shumway: Nathan

Geegi Casados: Rachel

A Cypress College theater and dance department production. Book by Joseph Stein. Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Music by Charles Strouse. Directed by Eve Himmelheber. Musical director: Mitch Hanlon. Choreographed by Kaye Ragland-Vergona. Set: Diana Polsky. Costumes: Wilma Mickler-Sears. Lights: Crystal Shomph. Sound: Fred DePontee. Stage manager: Dana Hess.