Northwestern Announces RAGTIME as 2011 Dolphin Show, 1/21

Northwestern University's Dolphin Show, America's largest student-produced musical, is proud to announce its 69th annual production, RAGTIME, by Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens, and Stephen Flaherty. This year's show, to be produced by School of Communication students Julie Boor and Lucas McMahon and directed by rising Communication senior Michael Holtzman, will open on January 21, 2011 in Cahn Auditorium on Northwestern's Evanston campus.

"All theatre is a journey, but this piece of theatre is America's journey," says Holtzman. "The opportunities and challenges Ragtime provides in performance, design and production make it an ideal platform for Northwestern students to come together and put out the finest work they can accomplish, culminating in a piece of art we are confident will be engaging, riveting and breathtaking."

According to production notes, RAGTIME intertwines the stories of three extraordinary families, as they confront history's timeless contradictions of freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America. The Tony Award-winning score by Ahrens and Flaherty draws upon many musical styles from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the Lower East Side, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlor songs and expansive anthems.

 Boasting professional production values, impressive fundraising campaigns, a team of over one hundred forty passionate students, and an incalculable number of man-hours, The Dolphin Show is truly epic in scale. From its humble roots in a swimming pool in 1940 as a fundraiser for the Dolphin Club to its status as the nation's largest student-produced musical now housed in Northwestern's Cahn Auditorium, The Dolphin Show has been a Northwestern tradition enjoyed by thousands over the past sixty-nine years.

As this Northwestern tradition approaches a milestone of seven decades, The Dolphin Show looks forward to expanding outreach and programming in the greater Chicagoland community in addition to mounting a production of professional caliber. This year's Dolphin Show is committed to creating partnerships with communities both on campus and off to share this dynamic story with as many people as possible.

 Please visit www.NUDolphinShow.org for more information.

Chicago Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. HAIRSPRAY (Uptown Music Theater of Highland Park)

6.8% of votes

2. RENT (Highland Park Players)

6.8% of votes

3. DREAMGIRLS (The Drama Group)

6.6% of votes

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