After Dark Rag

To soar, you must fly. To fly, you must dream.

With the birth of ragtime comes a talent like few others – songwriter, singer, and self-styled piano player, Fitzgerald Delacroix, the Creole great-grandson of a slave, and the son of New Orleans musical legend.

During his long days at a filthy coal yard, Fitz dreams of playing in one of the glittering sporting palaces that dot Basin Street. There, a fella became a professor, a scholar of the musical arts. A man who demanded respect.

Ragtime and jazz are the heartbeat of New Orleans. The streets throb beneath your feet within the confines of the legal red light district, commonly known as Storyville. All Fitz needs is a chance to prove he’s got the chops to one day preside over the musical entertainment in one of the fanciest brothels in town. That’s the most a local musician could achieve, and positions were limited.

While he pays his dues, he struggles to overcome obstacles aplenty, using his raw talent and ability to adapt to any situation. But to get what he wants, he must deceive the one person whose opinion and approval he values most. Gramaw’s a tough sell, convinced as she is that her own son died because he played “the devil’s music.”

Fitz lives out his greatest deception, until he must own up to his betrayal. Does he convince Gramaw that he can avoid his father’s pitfalls? Does he even have what it takes to rise above in the competitive world of ragtime music, or is he destined to forever play the dingy sin houses back of town?