Ragtime (musical)
Ragtime is a musical with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by E.L. Doctorow.
Ragtime
1996 Toronto
1998 Broadway
2003 West End
2009 Kennedy Center
2009 Broadway revival
2012 London revival
2013 Avery Fisher Hall concert
2016 Ellis Island concert
2016 London revival
2018 Norwegian production
2019 Australian production
2023 Reunion concert
Set in the early 20th century, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States: African Americans, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician; upper-class suburbanites, represented by Mother, the matriarch of a white upper-class family in New Rochelle, New York; and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. The show also incorporates historical figures such as Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Stanford White, Harry Kendall Thaw, Admiral Peary, Matthew Henson, and Emma Goldman.
Production history[edit]
Original Toronto and Broadway production[edit]
The musical had its world premiere in Toronto, where it opened at the then-called Ford Centre for the Performing Arts (now the Meridian Arts Centre) on December 8, 1996, and ran for 9 months.[1] It was produced by Canadian impresario Garth Drabinsky and his Livent Inc., the Toronto-production company he headed.[2] A concept album, Songs from Ragtime: The Musical, featuring the Toronto cast was released on February 11, 1996. In 1998, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.[3]
The US premiere was at the Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles in June 1997, starring Marcia Mitzman Gaven, John Dossett, Judy Kaye, Brian Stokes Mitchell and John Rubinstein.[4][5]
The Broadway production began previews on December 26, 1997, and officially opened on January 18, 1998. It was the first production in the newly opened Ford Center for the Performing Arts. Directed by Frank Galati and choreographed by Graciela Daniele, Ragtime closed on January 16, 2000, after 834 performances and 27 previews. The original cast featured many of the actors from the original Toronto production, including Brian Stokes Mitchell as Coal House Walker, Marin Mazzie as Mother, Peter Friedman as Tateh and Audra McDonald as Sarah, all of whom were nominated for Tony Awards, as well as Steven Sutcliffe as Mother's Younger Brother, Judy Kaye as Emma Goldman, Mark Jacoby as Father and Lea Michele as Tateh's Daughter. The production was conducted by David Loud.
The production received mixed reviews, with critics noting that the dazzling physical production (with a $10 million budget, including fireworks and a working Model T automobile) overshadowed problems in the script. Ben Brantley's review in The New York Times was headlined "A diorama with nostalgia rampant."[6] It led the 1998 Tony Awards with thirteen Tony Award nominations, but Disney's The Lion King won as Best Musical. The musical won awards for Best Featured Actress (McDonald), Original Score, Book, and Orchestrations. According to The New York Times, "The chief competition for The Lion King was Ragtime, a lavish musical."[7] The New York Times also noted that "The season was an artistic success as well, creating one of the most competitive Tony contests in years, with a battle in almost every category capped by the titanic struggle for the best musical award between Ragtime with 13 nominations and The Lion King with 11."[8] The Broadway production was not financially successful, and some Broadway insiders consider its lavish production to have been the financial "undoing" of Livent.[9][10]
The Tony Award-winning orchestration by William David Brohn consists of twenty-six musicians.[41] On the original cast recording, the orchestra was expanded to 38 players.[42]
Notes:
Adaptation[edit]
The show's original creative team of McNally, Ahrens, and Flaherty created a "new symphonic arrangement" of the musical titled Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert. It premiered in May 2023 with Keith Lockhart leading the Boston Pops Orchestra at Symphonic Hall, with a reprise in July 2023 at Tanglewood