Diablo Light Opera Company's production of "Ragtime," an East Bay premiere, is a breathtaking theatrical achievement, and, hands-down, the best musical I've ever seen performed in the Lesher Center.

If community theater can rise to this standard on a regular basis, local theatergoers are in for some exciting times ahead. Of course, to be fair, there aren't that many "Ragtimes" around. It's an outstanding show that marries the musical with dramatic theater to make a new theatrical form that will assure musicals a life going well into the 21st century.

On the other hand, it is also a difficult show to produce for any number of reasons that include a large, racially diverse cast; a difficult score; writing that places much greater than normal demands on actors and singers; and physical demands that would tax a team of water buffalo.

But even with all that, DLOC pulled it off astoundingly, establishing an artistic high-water mark and paying fitting tribute to what is the finest of the new musicals.

The show, based on E.L. Doctorow's novel, took more than two decades to reach the stage, probably because it is such a complicated story (witness the mess made of the film version). The work weaves concentric tales that spin in their own orbit at first, then move closer and closer together until they intersect.

"Ragtime" is the story of the early years of the 20th century, when the American Mayflower-type Brahmans were feeling intense pressure on their upper-crust lifestyle. Those unwittingly applying the pressure were the children of freed slaves, along with immigrants bent on creating a new America that didn't necessarily play by the old school rules.

The sticking point here is that the emerging industry of the nation needed the blacks and immigrants as human cogs in the Brahman's assembly line machinery, so all three of the new American social circles were drawn closer together.

The story is told through both real -- Booker T. Washington (Ty Blair), Henry Ford (Gary Suto), Harry Houdini (Noah Haydon), J. P. Morgan (Cliff Egan), Evelyn Nesbit (Sophia Newton), Emma Goldman (Michele Krapp) -- and fictional characters representing the different groups. Mother and Father (Joni DeGabriele and Michael McCarty) are the Brahmans. Tatah and his daughter (Mike Dederian and Mallory Cless) represent the immigrants and Coalhouse Walker (James Monroe Iglehart) and Sarah (Andrea Daniel) are the African-American leads.

Their stories begin to intersect when Mother discovers Sarah's baby half-buried in the back yard, and takes both the child and his mother into the house. Coalhouse learns where Sarah and his son are living and comes to try to win her back. Meanwhile, Tatah and his daughter arrive in the United States and are set adrift when the American dream fails them. They meet Mother and her son (Brett Cashen) briefly on a railroad platform.

Before the show ends the lives of all the characters intertwine, offering plenty of opportunity for outstanding performances, particularly from Iglehart, Daniel, Dederian and DeGabriele. They are absolutely stunning in the midst of a cast of outstanding performers.

If you've grown disenchanted with local theater, or perhaps feel theater doesn't have anything relevant to say to you, try "Ragtime." You will be quite surprised.