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GOODSPEED MUSICALS AUDIENCE INSIGHTS MICHAEL GENNARO Executive Director presents Book by Music by Lyrics by Revised Book by JOSEPH STEIN CHARLES STROUSE STEPHEN SCHWARTZ DAVID THOMPSON Scenic Design by Costume Design by Lighting Design by Projection Design by MICHAEL SCHWEIKARDT LINDA CHO JOHN LASITER LUKE CANTARELLA Wig & Hair Design by Fight Director Assistant Music Director Orchestrations by MARK ADAM RON PIRETTI WILLIAM J. THOMAS DAN DeLANGE RAMPMEYER Vocal Arrangements by Sound Design by Dialect Coach Casting by DAVID LOUD JAY HILTON BEN FUREY PAUL HARDT STEWART/WHITLEY CASTING Production Stage Manager Associate Producer Line Producer General Manager BRADLEY G. SPACHMAN BOB ALWINE DONNA LYNN COOPER RACHEL TISCHLER HILTON Music Direction by MICHAEL O'FLAHERTY Choreographed by PARKER ESSE Directed by ROB RUGGIERO OCT 6 - DEC 10, 2017 THE GOODSPEED TABLE OF CONTENTS Character & Show Synopsis................................................................................................................................................................4 Meet the Writers.....................................................................................................................................................................................6 Director's Vision......................................................................................................................................................................................8 Writer's Notes........................................................................................................................................................................................10 History & Symbolism: The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island...........................................................................................11 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia...................................................................................................................................................................14 The Great Revolt..................................................................................................................................................................................16 Resources.....................................................................................................................................................................................18 Goodspeed’s Audience Insights can be found on our website: www.goodspeed.org/guides Audience Insights for Rags was prepared by: Erin Lafferty, Education & Outreach Manager Katherine Desjardins, Creative Content Manager Audience Insights updated 10.04.17 3 CHARACTER & SHOW SYNOPSIS THE CHARACTERS refuses to listen until Bella shows him the collar Rebecca made for her. Reluctantly REBECCA HERSHKOWITZ: A convinced, Jack lets Rebecca and David stay, young woman fleeing pogroms and they all settle in for the night. and violence in Russia, looking The next morning, everyone prepares for to make a new life for herself their new jobs. With the new additions in and her son in America. the dress shop, Jack rents a pushcart for Avram to sell goods on the street. Avram BELLA COHEN: Rebecca’s friend never enjoyed sewing, but he does not wish whom she meets on the ship to be a peddler either; in Russia he was a teacher and a scholar. Ben, a shop worker, to America. She is 18 years old takes Avram’s place at the sewing machine and looking forward to her while David replaces him as schlepper. Bella independence in America. is the new baster and Rebecca, the finisher. When Jack shows Rebecca and Bella the DAVID HERSHKOWITZ: A dress pattern, Rebecca recommends altering curious young boy, David is it to be more interesting. Jack interrupts her; Rebecca’s 9-year-old son. he tells her that Jews are paid to sew, not to think. He warns Rebecca that Bronfman, the factory owner, is demanding and that she AVRAM COHEN: Bella’s father should not question him. who has been living with his sister and brother-in-law in New On the street below, Avram sits by his cart York for some time. Christian Michael Camporin as David and reading a book. Rachel, another pushcart Samantha Massell as Rebecca in Goodspeed's peddler, approaches him. She points out that JACK BLUMBERG: Avram’s Rags. ©Diane Sobolewski. he has not sold anything sitting quietly, but Avram does not relish yelling in the street to brother-in-law who runs a sell things. Rachel teaches him to bargain, dress shop out of his tenement Rebecca and Bella sit on the deck of a ship eventually making his first sale. Moments apartment on the Lower East as it enters New York harbor while Rebecca’s later, David arrives at Avram’s cart with a Side. son, David, sleeps nearby. After a long small flag; it was a present from a stranger. journey from their native Russia, Rebecca Rachel, suddenly very serious, warns David ANNA BLUMBERG: Avram’s confesses to Bella that she and David do to stay in his own neighborhood. She reads not have the $20 necessary to enter the the flag’s message aloud: “No Dogs, No Jews.” sister who, while she never had country; neither do they have a relative to children of her own, has always meet them at the dock. Rebecca is prepared A few days pass, and the family prepares wanted a big family. to improvise, however. After all, she did bribe for the Sabbath. As they arrange the dinner their way onto the ship at the dock in Danzig table, David finds an old piano being used as BEN LEVITOWITZ: A young in the first place. She gives Bella a lace collar a shelf. Ben rushes over and begins to play man who works in Jack’s dress she has made as a parting gift. As day breaks, while Anna calls for the downstairs neighbor shop. the Statue of Liberty comes into view. Sal, a Catholic progressive reformer and their Sabbath Goy. He introduces himself to The ship docks at Ellis Island, and the Rebecca. When he learns she works in the MAX BRONFMAN: The factory passengers begin processing through shop, he tells her that Bronfman exploits owner who employs Jack and immigration. Through the chaos, Bella finds them; he pays $1.50 per dress when they are his family as dressmakers. her father, Avram, while Rebecca and David worth at least $2.25 a piece. Sal leaves for are stopped by a customs officer. Rebecca mass, and the family begins their Sabbath RACHEL BRODSKY: A pushcart sees Bella with Avram, and she tells the prayers. officer he is her Uncle Mordecai. Avram peddler who befriends Avram. initially resists helping a woman he has That night, David cries out in his sleep from never met, but when he sees little David nightmares. Bella sits with Rebecca as she SAL RUSSO: A neighbor peek from behind Rebecca’s skirt, he plays watches her son and listens to her memories who lives downstairs of Jack along. Grateful to Avram for his kindness, of hiding in the fields of her village during and Anna’s tenement. He is a Rebecca and David go with him and Bella to a pogrom. She found her husband, Nathan, progressive reformer and also his home. badly hurt and bleeding. This is David’s acts as the family’s Sabbath nightmare. As Rebecca reminisces about Avram lives with his sister, Anna, and his life in Russia, she grows frustrated and Goy. brother-in-law, Jack, in a tenement on the complains about Bronfman’s insistence on Lower East Side, out of which they also producing plain, ordinary clothing. She and QUINTET: 3 men and 2 women run a dress shop. Jack, the shop foreman, Bella fantasize about opening their own who make up the ensemble anticipated the arrival of Avram’s daughter, dress shop someday. Bella returns to sleep, and play minor characters but when he returns with not one, but and Rebecca attends to a half-finished dress throughout the story. three, new additions, Jack is furious. on the shop’s dummy. Rebecca explains that she is a seamstress and can help with his business, but Jack After working all night, Rebecca awakens to 4 SHOW SYNOPSIS (CONINUED) Jack, irate that she refashioned a dress from factory materials. whatever money she makes. This time, she also returns with While Jack yells at Rebecca, Bella and David gather the dresses the news that Bronfman found a job for Bella in a factory that is and put them in bundles to be schlepped to the factory, about to settle with the strikers, but Avram adamantly opposes including the new dress Rebecca created. David takes the his daughter working in a sweatshop. David comes in from the bundles to the factory, passing through an anti-immigration strike, and Rebecca scolds him. He knows he is not supposed to rally chanting: “Take our city back!” go to the strikes, but he likes spending time with Sal. David tries to convince Rebecca that she likes Sal, too. There is a knock on Later, Bronfman unexpectedly visit the tenement, wielding the door; Bronfman has come to take Rebecca out. Rebecca’s redesigned dress. Jack is humiliated, but Rebecca remains firm; she tells the men that no woman wants to be As Bella heads to the factory for work, she passes Ben without ordinary. Bronfman is not angry, though. In fact, he wants them recognizing him; he shaved his beard and wears a derby hat. to make more of Rebecca’s design. He offers them $1.75 a dress, Delighted to see her, Ben escorts Bella to her new job at the but Rebecca quickly negotiates to $2.50 a dress. Impressed, factory. He has big plans for himself and Bella. He will sell his Bronfman enlists Rebecca to design a dress for a wealthy, songs, then they will get married and live uptown – in the Bronx! uptown client. She agrees, and after Bronfman leaves, everyone