From the first syncopated moments of Ragtime, something special is taking place at Boulder's Dinner Theatre.

In a world full of The Taffetas and The Sound of Music (the latter up next in Boulder), here's a musical about something that hasn't been seen a hundred times in Denver. In fact, it was seen only once, on the national tour.

And then there's the company, clip-clopping onto the stage in well-defined groupings: suburban white swells, stylish urban blacks and ragged immigrants, all (not literally) careening into one another in 1906 New York.

For the first time, Boulder's Dinner Theatre collaborates with Denver's Shadow Theatre Company, not only in the required multiracial casting but at the show's artistic core: Ragtime is co- directed by the theaters' two artistic directors, Michael Duran and Jeffrey Nickelson, and choreographed by Boulder's Alicia Dunfee with work by Shadow's Hugo Sayles.

The result is a stirring production, fast-paced and barely adulterated, a visual and aural accomplishment.

Based on the E.L. Doctorow book, Ragtime tells the tale of more than a dozen characters, fictional and true. In New Rochelle lives Mother (Shelly Cox-Robie, in a beautiful dramatic stretch), who must become independent when Father (John Scott Clough) goes off on a polar expedition. In her garden, she discovers an abandoned black baby, and soon the baby's mother, Sarah, who moves into the family home. Sarah (Reynelda Snell) has been traumatized to the point of muteness and resists the persistent courtship of the ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker (Nickelson). In the immigrant corner are a struggling artist, Tateh (Wayne Kennedy), and his daughter, distinctively portrayed with few words by Jenny McPherson.

If these stories seem involved, they've barely begun. In Doctorow's novel, they overlap and collide and encompass capitalism, anarchism and industry. Real-life characters Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, Booker T. Washington and Henry Ford step in.

Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens created a varied and powerful score, particularly the opening number, with its theme echoing throughout the play. But they and script author Terrence McNally propel the tale so quickly through its episodic structure that the emotional impact can't build. We know what we should feel; we just never have a moment to process anything.

Unlike the lavish Broadway production, Boulder works from a pared-down approach that works perfectly. Linda Morken's costumes make the visuals, from the white Gibson Girl look of the rich women to the jewel tones of the black characters and the earthen-hued rags of the immigrants.

A number of performances triumph as well. Nickelson has a magnetism that convinces us of Coalhouse's actions, and his voice melds with Snell's on their duets. Kennedy may be the most Jewish Irishman in the nation, so expertly does he capture Eastern European immigrants (his Tevye is still the standard). Brandon Dill embodies the drifting character of Younger Brother, searching desperately for a cause.

Boulder's Dinner Theatre takes a chance by presenting its audience a lesser-known, more challenging work. It would be a shame if it's punished for its audacity.

Ragtime

• Grade: A-

• When and where: 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 6:15 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, 12:15 p.m. Sundays, through May 26, Boulder's Dinner Theatre, 5501 Arapahoe Ave.

• Cost: $34 to $53

• Information: 303-449-6000