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"The Tin Pan Alley Rag" scores on many fronts. It's tunefully original, centering on an imagined meeting between music greats Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin; we're treated to some wonderful selections from their songbooks; and the performances are uniformly strong.

But while there are flashes of brilliance, this is not an altogether cohesive work. It hits enough high notes to captivate in moments, but there are also times when it feels as if it's running strictly by the numbers.
It's the early 1900s. Irving Berlin is a young brash song writer who's found some early success. Scott Joplin is middle-aged, and despite being recognized as the King of Ragtime, he's struggling to gain the respect he feels his immense talent deserves.

The two are united by their drive to produce great music and they share tragic histories of doomed marriages.

It's not known whether they ever actually met, but Mark Saltzman, who wrote this play, has crafted a story in which Joplin appeals to Berlin, a Tin Pan Alley music publisher, for help in getting his ambitious opera "Treemonisha" produced.

Through an ongoing series of flashbacks, we get biography lessons on each of them that are alternately enlightening and formulaic. This story-telling technique can make for fascinating theater, but Saltzman tends to rush through the facts, which, in turn, flattens the drama.

Fortunately, there's so much talent invested here, the show is never less than interesting. Director Stafford Arima crams a lot of information into the work; and, on Beowulf Borritt's marvel of a rotating set, the action spins at a lively pace.

Every performer is ideally cast and each is given ample opportunity to strut their fine stuff, acting and singing in multiple roles with gusto. Michael Thierriaut as Berlin and Michael Boatman as Joplin draw very compelling portraits. Thierriaut paints the edgy Berlin superbly as a gifted Jew torn between commerce and art. And Boatman gives Joplin a powerfully dignified presence.

As a young man Irving Berlin was driven to find the next big hit. "The Tin Pan Alley Rag," engaging as it is, wouldn't qualify by Mr. Berlin's standards, but it's well worth seeing nonetheless.