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YES Company Presents Ragtime
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Tickets are now on sale for YES (Youth Entertainment Stage) Company’s summer production of “Ragtime.” Tickets can be purchased at the Gallo Center for the Arts box office and via their website: www.galloarts.org. Performances are slated for July 19, 20, 25, 26, 27 at 7:30p.m. and also July 21, and 28 at 3p.m.

Ragtime, School Edition, is an epic musical that paints a nostalgic and powerful portrait of life in turn of the century America. Three distinct stories intertwine to poignantly illustrate history’s contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, love and hate and what it means to live in America. It was a tumultuous time when immigrants were looking to find hope in the United States, when former slaves and their children, now freed, were trying to establish their hold on the American dream, and the white upper-middle-class society struggled to maintain their lifestyle and expectations.

The music is as diverse as the melting pot of America, drawing upon many musical styles from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to bold brass band marches and expansive anthems. Featured are such show stopping songs as “Getting Ready Rag,” “Your Daddy’s Son,” “Wheels of a Dream,” “Till We Reach That Day,” “Back To Before,” and “Make Them Hear You.”

A special project of the Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Education Foundation of Stanislaus County, YES Company’s group of dedicated students commit to a rigorous summer schedule that culminates in a fully realized production. This year, cast members from 44 Stanislaus County schools are represented in the production, including Oakdale High, Escalon High, Riverbank Language Academy, Crossroads Elementary, and Waterford High. Their training includes intensive theatrical and musical immersion, team building and fitness. YES Company has been nationally recognized for its professionally staffed programs and top-quality productions that are provided to the participants for little to no charge. For more information about the YES Company programs and productions visit www.yescompany.org.