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Ragtime, the musical snapshot of life at the turn of the 20th century, is a big show based on a novel by E.L. Doctorow. Terence McNally masterfully turned the sweeping story into a production packed with music by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.

The production is meant to be both powerfully affecting and entertaining and it is just that in a production at Northampton Community College Summer Theatre.

NCC artistic director Bill Mutimer has assembled a cast of great actors and singers who make it easy to care about them and the messages they deliver. During the Saturday night performance, audience members gasped, murmured or cheered at key moments and gave the cast a well deserved standing ovation.

The story follows three groups of people a white upper class family in New Rochelle, N.Y.; African Americans in Harlem facing discrimination and Eastern European immigrants trying to achieve the American dream. It explores their hopes, fears and struggles as they navigate life in a changing time. Although the novel is more than 40 years old and the musical 20 years old, the story somehow feels as contemporary as it is historical.

The cast is very large more than 50 but this is a case where the more is indeed the merrier, as their collective voices and presence create a swell of energy. Thats especially the case with the musical numbers, starting from the opener, Ragtime, featuring the entire cast, divided into their groups. More than three dozen songs do a good job of moving the story forward, although the play is not entirely sung.

The lead actors are exceptional, starting with Mother, played by Equity actor Valerie Hill. She is sparkling, charming, expressive, sensitive and strong in a Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music kind of way and she sings beautifully. Mother is guided by love and compassion. Father seems at times impossibly stubborn, unlikeable and one dimensional, but Matthew Walczer captures the subtleties of his personality and allows you to actually care about him.

Caleb James Grochalski as Tateh, a Jew from Latvia, effectively captures the breadth of the immigrant experience from determination to hopelessness and despair and then success bred from ingenuity, strength and resolve.

The African American experience is represented convincingly by Justin Boyd as Coalhouse Walker Jr., an aspiring singer/pianist, and Shannon Dionne as Sarah, the mother of his child. They are both charismatic and their chemistry is strong. Their voices beautifully combine for moving duets.

Supporting players are plentiful and noteworthy, including Evelyn Carpenter as Tatehs daughter (the role is doublecast), Claran Walsh as Mother and Fathers young son (also doublecast), and Colin White, who captures the conflict and passion of Mothers Younger Brother, and who sings well.

The historical figures woven through the musical also are appealing, especially Megan Schmidt as chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit and Sarah Thatcher as political activist Emma Goldman, who are charismatic in quite different ways. Thatcher also has a commanding voice and presence.

The staging is well done, with the large cast moving smoothly and props moving in and out without much disruption. Scenes with violence or destruction are handled with tasteful restraint to a powerful result.

There also is exceptional choreography by Christina Sohns-Williams. I loved the Henry Ford number with workers simulating a factory line.

Costumes are stereotypical, but that works well with such a big cast. The upper class people are in white from head to toe, the immigrants in layers of browns and greys and the African Americans with lots of plaid.

The simple set consists of a drawing of a Lincoln penny covering the floor and a catwalk to facilitate the movement of time and place.

The show is long about 2 and a half hours but well worth the time.

Ragtime, 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, Northampton Community College, Lipkin Theatre, Kopecek Hall, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township. Tickets: Tickets: $25; $20, seniors and students. http://www.nccsummertheatre.org, 866-967-8167.

jodi.duckett@mcall.com

Twitter @goguidelv

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Review: 'Ragtime' a moving musical at Northampton Community College - Allentown Morning Call