Written By: Stephen Schwartz

“RAGS began as a project initiated by Joseph Stein, the book writer. He had been asked by producer Lee Guber to write a sort of sequel to his show FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, describing what happened to Tevye and his family after they left Anatevka and came to America (hence the fact that the characters are Russian immigrants). As Joe worked, the show gradually evolved into being about a different family. I believe it was Lee Guber's suggestion to focus the show on a woman character, and Joe came up with the idea for Rebecca, a young woman who arrives to join her husband and then is thrown back on her own devices when he isn't there to meet her. The inclusion of the rise of labor unions was always a part of the story, as it was so integral to the history of that era and something that Joe cares about socially and politically.I wouldn't say that there was anything going on nationally that particularly affected this production. Perhaps people were a bit more interested in their heritage then, and America was less imperial in its attitude, so we looked to our European backgrounds with more of a sense of continuity. But that's speculative and generalizing. I know for me personally, working on the show made me more interested in my own family heritage, and I learned for the first time more about where my parents' families had come from and some fascinating stories about the experiences of their parents and grandparents.I always do a great deal of research for a show such as RAGS. I did an enormous amount of reading about the Lower East side and the immigrant experience of that time, making note as always of specific details that would help give verisimilitude and visual evocativeness to the lyrics. I went out to Ellis Island and looked around there (it had not yet been opened to the public), did walking tours of the Lower East side, visited museums such as the Jewish Museum in New York, etc. I read novels of the period such as The Rise of David Lavinsky. There is of course a rich photographic record of the time, which was also very useful. I always enjoy the research part of a project, and working on RAGS was perhaps my most enjoyable and enlightening research experience. RAGS is big story-oriented musical with a non-self-referential non-ironic score and serious and somewhat sentimental subject matter. For myself, I remain extremely proud of the score for RAGS. I think it is Charles Strouse's best music, and that's saying a lot, and I feel good about my lyrics.”