WEST VALLEY CITY -- There is nothing square about Hale Centre Theatre's new production of the Ahrens/Flaherty musical "Ragtime." Hale's rotating circular stage is used to great effect in an arena production of whirling vitality. It's the most accomplished integration of stagecraft, plot and music yet seen at this family theater.

Hale's "Ragtime" is entertaining, touching, thought-provoking -- and yes, disturbing. Those who think of Hale Centre as a purveyor of corny community theater might reconsider if they see this show. The remaining question is whether Hale's audience -- which favors light, familiar fare -- will warm to "Ragtime's" thorny complexities and moral gray areas.

E.L. Doctorow's novel of early 20th-century America, adapted as a musical by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally, is a seething stew of fictional and real characters, all caught up in the colicky infancy of the modern age. Though "Ragtime" contains spoken dialogue, its underpinning is music, creating the feel of a "sung-through" musical.

At the center of the drama is Coalhouse Walker Jr., a black pianist seduced by the dream of racial equality. But if Booker T. Washington -- who is seen in the play -- is the turn-of-the-past-century equivalent of Martin Luther King, Walker is the play's forerunner of Malcolm X. When wronged, Coalhouse seeks redress through legal channels. When that fails, he bitterly turns to guns and explosives. Like other characters in the play, he faces a desperate dilemma and shows himself to be a flawed -- realistic -- human being. His ultimate betrayal by a white society that promises justice is the stuff of grand tragedy.

Despite the challenges inherent in assembling biracial casts of players who can sing, dance and act, performance quality is generally high in this community show. Best Newcomer honors belong to Brad Robins, whose glorious tenor voice elevated his performance as Younger Brother in the Monday-Wednesday-Friday cast (the show is double-cast). Other standouts include Meghan D. Parrish as Mother; Kelly DeHaan's warm performance as the immigrant artist Tateh; and Clotile Bonner's portrayal of Sarah, Coalhouse's ill-fated love.

Though a live orchestra would be preferable, Hale Centre got the next best thing by allowing musical director DeHaan to hire first-rate local players for the recorded orchestration, which sounds exponentially better than taped scores usually do and gives the show momentum. Musical excellence continues in the well-trained chorus and engaging lead characters.

Good staging choices further enhance the production's slick, cinematic style. Resident set designer Andrew Barrus is co-director of the show (with Marilyn May Montgomery and Ron Jewett), and his ability to integrate the theater's technical capacities with "Ragtime's" dramatic requirements is essential to the production's success.

Crowds of people swoop in and out of the action on Hale's rotating stage, central elevator, a sliding platform and a "sky bridge." Eastern European immigrants, upper-crust New Yorkers and Harlem's black community are surrounded at the theater's perimeter by projections of period photographs, architectural elements and outdoor scenes. These provide quick suggestions of time and place, allowing imagination to fill in the blanks.

If all this were not done incredibly well, the show would be little more than a hokey spectacle. Credit must be given where it is due, however. The complicated staging works, and a visit to Hale Centre to see "Ragtime" is worth anyone's time. %%Review

WHAT: "Ragtime"

WHERE: Hale Centre Theatre, 3333 S. Decker Lake Drive, West Valley City

WHEN: Mondays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. through July 23 (except July 4). Matinees are 12:30 and 4 p.m. each Saturday of the run.

RUNNING TIME: 2 hours 45 minutes

TICKETS: $19 to $21; $14 to $15 for children; call

801-984-9000.

BOTTOM LINE: This is the most successful integration of stagecraft, plot and music ever achieved at Hale Centre. Themes of this remarkable production are darker than those usually presented at this family theater, but that shouldn't discourage anyone from seeing the show -- it's excellent, both musically and visually. %%Trevor Jerome, left, as Coalhouse, Meghan Parrish as Mother, and Kelly DeHaan as Tateh in Hale Centre Theatre's production of "Ragtime."