Weird & Intoxicating: The Sixth Annual Ragtime Extravaganza

INTERVIEW PREVIEW MUSIC

Erin Morris & Her Ragdolls

Into the valley of Erin Morris & Her Ragdolls.

If the American ideal is defined by the coming together of various cultures to create a unique whole, then ragtime is the country's first musical example of that worldly synthesis.

Developed in African-American communities in the 1890s, the music combines African rhythms and syncopations, European harmonies, marches, and a Latin tinge to create a sonic brew that the King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin, described as "weird and intoxicating."

Detroit loved that weird intoxication and was a hub for ragtime during the music's peak period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before it gave way to jazz. In fact, the Remick Music Shell on Belle Isle is named for Jerome Remick, one of the biggest publishers of ragtime music. (Read a history of Detroit ragtime here.)

Now, a hundred years after ragtime's apex, and 47 miles east of the Remick Music Shell, the sixth the annual Ragtime Extravaganza aims to recreate the look, feel, and sound of the music's classic era at the Michigan Theater on January 21.

Extravaganza organizer William Pemberton has always loved ragtime music and founded the River Raisin Ragtime Revue in 2002. He’s served as its president -- and tuba player -- ever since.

The Revue has grown to be one of southeast Michigan’s most respected performance groups, featuring musicians from across the state, including professors from Central Michigan and the University of Michigan’s music departments. And the Ragtime Extravaganza is the Revue’s biggest event each year -- and by far "the most fun," Pemberton said.

“I love that it takes place in a 1920s vaudeville house," he said, "and the whole idea of it is to re-create a feeling of the golden age of American entertainment: the ragtime, the vaudeville, and the burlesque eras. And it’s just perfect and you can just feel the energy in the house.”

River Raisin Ragtime Revue

The River Raisin Ragtime Revue is ready to time travel with you to the early 1900s.

This year’s Extravaganza features a whirlwind variety of performers, including vocal quartet Three Men and a Tenor, U-M professor and bass-baritone Daniel Washington, pianist James Dapogny, tap dancer Bianca Revels from TV's So You Think You Can Dance, the chorus girl troupe Erin Morris & Her Ragdolls, and Miss Miranda, a top burlesque dancer from London.

Burlesque was an integral part of the ragtime era, and Miss Miranda choreographed completely new dances to fit the look and feel of the Extravaganza.

“One of the things that I love most about burlesque is how varied it can be,” she said. “You can express any kind of mood, any kind of character that you want, any kind of narrative that you want.”

Miss Miranda is particularly excited to put her own twist on ragtime burlesque routines.

“When I choreograph to period music I don’t feel that I have to stick to the type of dance that people would have done at the time," she said. "I kind of just go with the feel of the music and try and express emotionally what I want to do with it. It’s quite liberating in that sense.”

Erin Morris & Her Ragdolls, a chorus girl troupe that performs every year at Ragtime Extravaganza, actually got their start because of the first event in 2011. Choreographer and Ragdolls co-founder Erin Morris was out "cutting a rug" one night and Pemberton noticed.

“William Pemberton saw me out dancing at a jazz club and just said, ‘Hey, do you have a chorus girl troupe? Because I need one for this big theater show that I’m putting on. And I said, ‘Yes, I do,’ even though I didn’t yet and then I set about creating one,” Morris laughed.

The Ragdolls don't have any competition, either. “I think we are probably the only chorus girl troupe that dances to ragtime. Everyone else sticks to music that comes from the 1920s or later,” Morris said.

Like Miss Miranda, Morris also said, “I do really love the challenge of finding steps and movements that fit [ragtime]. I try not to choreograph typical flapper routines or typical Charleston routines. I try to make it look very fresh, and illustrate the music that is happening.”

Morris is dedicated to reuniting live music and dancers, which are rarely seen together these days but were inextricably intertwined during ragtime's heyday.

“There are a lot of areas in which those are used separately right now: you have a lot of dancers performing to recorded music and a lot of musicians performing music that was traditionally done with dancers and is now being played for audiences without a visual aspect,” she said. “It’s incredibly important to me that we’re reuniting these things and getting back to that old spirit. That’s sort of the lifeblood of the show.”

Morris gets some inspiration from watching old videos and viewing vintage photos of chorus girl troupes, but unlike the concert placement of those original dancers, the Ragdolls' performance at the Ragtime Extravaganza is a headlining act.

“The funny thing about the history of chorus girls is that these were background dancers,” Morris said. “These were routines that were going on while you were eating dinner, that if you happened to get bored and look around, you’d say, ‘Oh, there are girls in skimpy costumes on stage.’ They were supporting performers, so the phenomenon of making chorus girls an act unto themselves is a little bit difficult to comprehend sometimes because you don’t want to make too much out of it. That’s an interesting spot for me and I really enjoy the challenge of illustrating a song without taking it over. It’s not supposed to be a huge flashy thing in the historic sense of the chorus girls.”

But what was flashy were the outfits. Ragtime Extravaganza's costuming also strives for authenticity, which means bold, creative, and wild creations. While the River Raisin Ragtime Revue will be in tuxedos and formal wear, the Ragdolls' co-founder and costumer, Brittany Armstrong Moran, re-created elaborately fringed shorts for the troupe that she saw in an old photograph of chorus girls. And Miss Miranda is going to be wearing one of her many eye-popping, belly-baring outfits.

Miss Miranda

Something in the way she moves: Miss Miranda's gonna make you sweat.

“There’s a wonderful fantasy element to wearing these really opulent costumes that you would never get to wear in everyday life and playing a character to go along with that,” said Miss Miranda, who has been making many of her own stage attire since she was 16.

It’s clear that everyone involved in the Ragtime Extravaganza finds it a delightful treat, whether it’s their first or sixth year with the show, in part because the event is so singular. Pemberton says that he’s sure there's nothing like it in the country.

“The diversity and level of programming is unparalleled,” he said. “There’s nothing like this in terms of quality and dedication to the re-creation.”

Get ready to be weirdly intoxicated.


The 6th Annual Ragtime Extravaganza takes place Saturday, January 21 at the Michigan Theater, 603 E Liberty St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48104. The doors open at 7 p.m. and preconcert entertainment by ragtime pianists John Remmers, Will Bennett, Eric Shore, and Jerry Perrine will be presented in the lobby before the main show at 8 p.m. Visit ragtimeband.org or michtheater.org for more info and tickets, which range from $35-$85. Please note: The show includes two burlesque numbers and is intended for mature audiences. Parental discretion is advised.


Elizabeth Pearce is a Library Technician at the Ann Arbor District Library.