
Joplin was the second of six children born to Giles Joplin, a former slave from North Carolina, and Florence Givens, a freeborn African-American woman from Kentucky. In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Treemonisha was finally produced in full, to wide acclaim, in 1972. This was followed by the Academy Award–winning 1973 film The Sting, which featured several of Joplin's compositions, most notably " The Entertainer", a piece performed by pianist Marvin Hamlisch that received wide airplay. Joplin's music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of a million-selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin. Joplin's death is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format over the next several years, it evolved with other styles into stride, jazz, and, eventually, swing. In mid-January 1917, he was admitted to a mental asylum and died there less than three months later at the age of 48. In 1916, Joplin descended into dementia as a result of neurosyphilis. His second opera, Treemonisha, was never fully staged during his life. He attempted to go beyond the limitations of the musical form that had made him famous but without much monetary success. In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera. In 1903, the score to his first opera, A Guest of Honor, was confiscated-along with his belongings-for non-payment of bills (likely as a result of being robbed). Louis, where he continued to compose and publish and regularly performed in the community. It also brought Joplin a steady income for life. This piece had a profound influence on writers of ragtime. He began publishing music in 1895, and publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame. There he taught future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden, and Brun Campbell. Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher. He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which helped make ragtime a national craze by 1897. During the late 1880s, he left his job as a railroad laborer and traveled the American South as an itinerant musician. While in Texarkana, he formed a vocal quartet and taught mandolin and guitar. Joplin grew up in a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana, Arkansas, developing his own musical knowledge with the help of local teachers. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons. One of his first and most popular pieces, the " Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag.

Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Violence: There is no graphic violence, but there are fights, gunshots, and deaths by beating and gunshot - portrayed in a stylized theatrical manner and without blood.Scott Joplin ( c. Sexual Undertones: There is a Vaudeville style performance where Evelyn Nesbit tells the story of the “crime of the century” containing some sexual undertones in the lyrics “ruined at the age of fifteen” and “all for a youthful fling.” Language: Racial slurs are used in multiple scenes, the words “bastard,” “damn,” “sons o’ bitches” are also used Smoking, drinking, and gambling: Some references
#Ragtime musical wiki movie
If this was a movie it would probably be rated PG-13. We believe this is an important historical story that fits well with Servant Stage's goal to present shows that will “inspire, educate, challenge, and entertain.” However, we want our audiences to be aware that there are adult themes and adult language and the show will not be appropriate for all people.
#Ragtime musical wiki full
A full synopsis can be found here: (musical)

Social and racial conflicts rise to the surface as the lives of the characters become intertwined. Doctorow and tells the experience of an African-American family, a Jewish immigrant family, and a wealthy white suburban family in turn-of-the-century America, who collide in pursuit of the American dream.
