Rags – Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

Rags continues at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester until 6 April 2019.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ 

The shortness of Rags’ original Broadway run is almost legendary in itself. Despite the pedigree of its creative team, this tale of Jewish immigrants scratching out a living on the mean streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the early part of the 20th century ran for just four performances at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in 1986.

Despite garnering a Tony nomination, its book, by Joseph Stein, was seen as a poor relation to his own Fiddler on the Roof, while its songs fell short of the best work of lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Godspell and, later, Wicked) and composer Charles Strouse (Bye Bye Birdie, Annie).

But its makers clearly felt it was worth persevering with, as it has been reworked several times, culminating in its most recent – and significant – overhaul for a run at Connecticut’s Godspeed Opera House in 2017.

It is this version that Hope Mill presents now, in a production that is every bit as heartfelt and well-realised as we’ve come to expect from a venue whose reputation for excellence in musical theatre is growing year on year.

However, despite the revisions by playwright David Thompson, which have reworked major characters and added some romantic complications to the list of hardships its central character endures, the drama still doesn’t quite take flight.

All the ingredients are there, but the story of hardworking seamstress Rebecca (Rebecca Trehearn) – who arrives with a husband in tow in earlier incarnations but is given a more tragic backstory here – remains frustratingly unrealised.

This might be because of the large number of supporting characters. They are brought to life in spirited fashion by a hard-working cast, which vividly captures the push and pull of a squabbling but loving, ready-made extended family, but this draws much-needed focus away from Rebecca’s progress.

Adding a love triangle in the form of Robert Tripolino’s hot-headed activist Sal and Gavin James’ ruthless German entrepreneur Bronfman is certainly a step in the right direction, and adds emotional heft to the duets ‘Blame It on the Summer Night’ and the plaintive ‘Wanting’, well sung by Trehearn and Tripolino.

Trehearn excels as the piece’s calm, determined centre, and touchingly plays her scenes with son David, an exceptionally good child performance by – on this occasion – George Varley.

A live four-piece band, lead by musical director and orchestrator Nick Barstow, brings immediacy to Strouse’s ragtime and jazz-infused compositions, despite – with the exception of the climactic ‘Children of the Wind’ – many of the songs lingering in the memory.

But the whole production is given a polished and cohesive feel by Bronagh Lagan’s fluid direction and Gregor Donnelly’s ingenious set, with large screens unobtrusively being moved around to represent subway doors and tenement fronts and piles of suitcases cleverly suggesting New York’s iconic skyline.

All of which adds up to a very good production of a musical that, despite its many nips, tucks and alterations, still hasn’t quite reached its full potential.

Chris Bartlett