November 11-17, 2004

artpicks

Ragtime Redux

by David Anthony Fox

cabaret

For most cabaret performers, their repertoire begins with the musical comedies of the 1930s. Well, why not? It's a theatrical gold mine that includes some of our greatest songwriters—Porter, Rodgers and Hart, et al.

But what about the previous golden age of American music—specifically, the wondrous world of ragtime, the syncopated music with an infectious rhythm and feel that is uniquely American? Go back just a few years—to the teens and 1920s—and you discover a treasure trove of material virtually unknown even to those who can hum the Vincent Youmans songbook.

Enter Max Morath, America's Ambassador of Ragtime. Thirty years ago, Morath—singer/pianist/historian/raconteur—brought ragtime back to our theaters and he's still at it.

And with ragtime, Morath also brings back the world of vaudeville, America's first indigenous theater genre. Listen to him talk about Bert Williams, the greatest vaudevillian of all, and recreate some of Williams' material, and you'll know you've been missing a critical chapter of entertainment history.

Like all great cabaret artists, Morath is as much curator as performer, and his shows are interspersed with marvelous theater lore. He has re-popularized important, nearly forgotten songs (by Eubie Blake, Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and others). And unlike many great cabaret performers, Morath is a crackerjack piano player; you have to be, to do justice to Gershwin and Blake.

Morath is, of course, a singer, too. His vocal resources are slender, but what he does with his reedy tenor—Morath even sounds like a page out of a history book—is spellbinding.

The current show is a must-see for anyone who thinks—on the basis of an acquaintance with the last 80 years—that they know American popular music. Trust me. You have a treat in store.

Max Morath: Ragtime and Again, Nov. 17-28, $32-$40, Morgans Cabaret at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700.