5-year-old Anthony Taylor practices his closing scene with the cast of “Ragtime.” (Photo courtesy of Dallas Summer Musicals)
When the two boys, 5 and 7, walked backstage, they found a dressing room with their character’s name on it. “Young Coalhouse” the sign read, under the show’s name, “Ragtime.”
It was opening night of the show’s tour premiere at Fair Park’s Music Hall, and the boys were about to be fitted for an early 20th century sailor outfit to wear during their scene at the close of the musical. It would be their first time performing on a Broadway stage.
“I don’t think the fact that it’s a Broadway production has sunk in his brain,” says Sharika Taylor, the mother of 5-year-old Anthony Taylor, who is starring as Young Coalhouse in this week’s performance of the show. “Ragtime” runs through Sunday, June 5 at Music Hall with tickets available on Dallas Summer Musicals’ website with discounted seats for some shows.
The Taylor family lives in East Dallas and Anthony attends St. Philip’s School in South Dallas. His mother says she heard about the walk-on role for the touring show from the school’s office and submitted Anthony’s application. She just enrolled him in acting classes and thought the musical might be more good exposure for him.
A Disney cruise was the first time her son experienced musicals, and it sparked something, she says.
“That young man just sat there in awe the whole time,” Sherika Taylor says of her usually active child. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen him have a love in his eyes for something.”
James Hayes, 7, and Anthony Taylor, 5, are fitted for their costume as Young Coalhouse in the musical “Ragtime.” (Photo courtesy of Dallas Summer Musicals)
In the dressing room, Anthony and 7-year-old James Hayes, who also attends St. Philip’s, made up a song during their fitting: “Sailor, sailor/ Sail along the seas/ Aye aye, captain/ Sail along with me.”
Walk-on roles were created for this show and for upcoming shows “Bullets Over Broadway” and “42nd Street” because “we wanted to do something fun for the last three shows,” says Francisco Chairez, spokesman for Dallas Summer Musicals.
“Ragtime,” though it has plenty of light moments, includes some heavy themes about class, race and culture clashes that were present in the early 20th century and still hover over the American landscape. When Anthony watched the show, “he had some pretty profound questions,” his mother says. “Is that the bad guy? Why is he the bad guy? Why did he do this? Why are they sad?”
“For me to try and say it in a simplistic way for my 5-year-old son to understand, we’re a world of diversity and the cultures are different,” Taylor says. “The pains different cultures have gone through to obtain greatness is something I tried to explain.”
