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.
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.

Productions

Original Broadway production

The musical had its world premiere in Toronto, where it opened at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts on December 8, 1996, produced by Canadian impresario Garth Drabinsky and his Livent Inc., the Toronto-production company he headed.
The US premiere was at the Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles in June 1997.
The musical opened on Broadway on January 18, 1998 as 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 included Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Peter Friedman and Audra McDonald, who were all nominated for Tony Awards, and also included Judy Kaye, Mark Jacoby and Lea Michele. The production was conducted by David Loud.
The production received mixed reviews, with critics noting that the dazzling physical production overshadowed problems in the script. Ben Brantley's review in The New York Times was headlined "A diorama with nostalgia rampant." 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, Original Score, Book, and Orchestrations. According to The New York Times, "The chief competition for The Lion King was Ragtime, a lavish musical." 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." The Broadway production was not financially successful, and some Broadway insiders consider its lavish production to have been the financial "undoing" of Livent.

International productions

Original West End production

Following its European premiere in a concert performance at the Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre in 2002, the musical was produced in the West End, London, by Sonia Friedman at the Piccadilly Theatre for a Limited Run from 19 March 2003 - 14 June 2003. This production starred Maria Friedman in the role of Mother, for which she won the 2004 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Original Norwegian production

The musical theatre company BærMuDa premiered the first Scandinavian production on January 18, 2018, coincidentally on the day of the musical's twenty year anniversary of the first night on Broadway. It was also the first time the musical was performed in a foreign language. The production was directed by Renate Stridh, and the cast featured Mimmi Tamba, Marvin Charles Cummings, Kristin Rinde, Christian Ranke, Kristian Grønvold, Lars Arne Rinde, Henrik Rinde Sunde, Marianne Snekkestad/Cecilie Due and Trine Eide Schjølberg/Ida Rinde Sunde. It was translated by Christian Ranke and Cecilie Due.
The production won the BroadwayWorld Regional Award for Best Musical. The scene design was inspired by the suitcases on display at the Ellis Island immigrant museum. The production used a scaled down version of William D. Brohn's original orchestrations.

Melbourne, Australia production

performed the musical at the Melbourne Arts Centre, from 2 to 10 November 2019. It was directed by Roger Hodgman.

Revivals

2009 Broadway revival

A new production opened at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, on April 18, 2009, and ran through May 17, 2009, with direction and choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge.
The production then moved to Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre, with previews beginning on October 23, 2009 and the show officially opened on November 15, 2009. The cast featured Stephanie Umoh, Quentin Earl Darrington, Christiane Noll, Robert Petkoff, Bobby Steggert, Donna Migliaccio and Ron Bohmer. This was the first Broadway revival of the musical and the first Broadway revival of any 1990s musical. The production opened to critical acclaim but closed on January 10, 2010 after 28 previews and 65 performances. This production had a large cast and orchestra, resulting in a significant weekly running cost that demanded the show be a popular success in order to prove financially worthwhile. "There had been rumors in recent weeks that the show would not be able to survive into early 2010; there was apparently not enough of an advance sale to encourage the producers." Despite the closing, the production received seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of Musical, Best Direction, Best Actress in Musical, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical. One nomination, for Costume Design, was withdrawn on the basis that the designs were substantially similar to those of a prior production.

London revivals

The Regent's Park Open Air Theatre played a revival of the musical from May 18 to September 8, 2012. This production was directed by Artistic Director Timothy Sheader. The cast featured Claudia Kariuki, Rolan Bell, Rosalie Craig, John Marquez, Harry Hepple, Tamsin Carroll and David Birrell.
The Charing Cross Theatre played a revival of the musical from October 8 until December 10, 2016, and directed by Thom Southerland. The actor-musician production featured Earl Carpenter, Anita Louise Combe, Jonathan Stewart, Ako Mitchell, Jennifer Saayeng and Gary Tushaw.

Concerts

Manhattan Concert Productions presented a one-night only concert of the musical on February 18, 2013 at the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, directed by Stafford Arima. The cast featured Lea Salonga, Patina Miller, Norm Lewis, Tyne Daly, Kerry Butler, Howard McGillin, Michael Arden and Manoel Felciano.
A concert benefitting the Actors Fund was scheduled for April 27, 2020 at the Minskoff Theatre. It will be directed by Stafford Arima and will feature many of the original Broadway cast, including Brian Stokes Mitchell as Coalhouse Walker, Jr., Audra McDonald as Sarah, and Peter Friedman as Tateh. Kelli O'Hara will play the role of Mother in the concert staging. The concert will be dedicated to the memory of Marin Mazzie who passed away in 2018. However the concert was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which also took the life of the musical's librettist Terrence McNally.
''Ragtime on Ellis Island''
A "developmental concert" of the musical was presented on Ellis Island on August 8, 2016. The concert is directed by Sammi Cannold, and featured Brian Stokes Mitchell as the narrator, Laura Michelle Kelly as Mother, Andy Mientus as Younger Brother, Brandon Victor Dixon as Coalhouse Walker Jr., Michael Park as Father, Shaina Taub as Emma Goldman, Aisha Jackson as Sarah and Robert Petkoff reprising his 2009 Broadway revival role of Tateh. An immersive, full production was anticipated in 2017, but did not occur. In March 2018, the team that was behind the developmental concert will hold a sound workshop with sound designer Nick Tipp to explore the use of in ear monitoring technology for audience members. This would mean that in a full production on Ellis Island, all the audio that the audience would normally hear through traditional sound systems would be live-mixed into wireless headphones worn by each audience member. The director Sammi Cannold told Broadway World that “While the workshop is of course focused on material from Ragtime, our team is also excited by the potential applications of this approach to other site-specific musicals in locations where it's impossible to use traditional sound systems.”
This production was also featured on an episode of the Working in the Theatre series run by the American Theatre Wing.

Regional productions

;2012 Shaw Festival
The Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, presented Ragtime in 2012 in its Festival Theatre as part of its 51st season, from April 10 through October 14, 2012. The production was directed by Shaw Festival Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell. The role of Coalhouse Walker was played by Thom Allison, with Alana Hibbert as Sarah, Jay Turvey as Tateh, and Patty Jamieson as Mother.
;2014 Westchester Broadway
Standing Ovation Studios presented Ragtime the Musical at the Westchester Broadway Theater February 27 to May 4, 2014.
;2017 Seattle
Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre presented a new version of Ragtime in October 2017, based on a streamlined production from Theatre Latte Da in Minneapolis, directed by Peter Rothstein. It has a stripped-down cast of only 16 actors, whereby leading actors also portray the ensemble/chorus.
;2018 Providence, Rhode Island
Providence's Trinity Repertory Company presented Ragtime in May 2018, directed by Curt Columbus, with Wilkie Ferguson III as Coalhouse Walker, Jr. Mia Ellis as Sarah, Charlie Thurston as Tateh, and Rachael Warren as Mother.

Synopsis

;Act One
The musical introduces the American experience at the turn of the 20th century through the eyes of three different facets of society, in the New York City area. The first is an upper-class white family from New Rochelle—Mother, Father, Mother's Younger Brother, Grandfather, and the Little Boy, Edgar. Theirs is a genteel, sheltered atmosphere, far from the bustle of Harlem, where the African-American community, including a beautiful young woman named Sarah, explores a new kind of music pioneered by a pianist named Coalhouse Walker Jr. Meanwhile, immigrants from all parts of the globe set out to seek better lives in the tenements of the Lower East Side, among them Tateh, a Jewish artist from Latvia, and his young daughter. These three disparate worlds are connected only by celebrities: tycoons such as J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford, activists such as Booker T. Washington and Emma Goldman, and entertainers such as Harry Houdini and Evelyn Nesbit, who has been catapulted into fame by the murder of her wealthy lover Stanford White by her millionaire husband Harry K. Thaw. As the century dawns, the separate worlds of New York City begin to blur together.
Mother and her Family say goodbye to Father as he embarks on Robert Peary's expedition to the North Pole. He asks Mother to oversee his affairs, her first experience with any kind of independence. He assures her that nothing will change in his absence but Mother, feeling adrift without dreams of her own, hopes differently. On board Admiral Peary's ship, Father encounters the ship's First Officer, Matthew Henson, and is shocked to find he is a black man. He catches a glimpse of the rag ship carrying Tateh and his Little Girl to America and waves at the immigrants, who he cynically imagines "don't have a chance" in America. Tateh, incredulous anyone would want to leave such a wonderful country as America, returns the hail, while Mother, back on shore, also wishes Father a safe passage .
Mother's Younger Brother, an intense, awkward young man, is consistently in search of something fulfilling in life, and his latest obsession is Evelyn Nesbit. He takes a regular seat in the balcony of the vaudeville theatre where Evelyn performs her act, a risqué parody of her husband's murder trial. After the show ends, Younger Brother confesses his love to Evelyn. She kisses him, but only for the benefit of a press photographer, cheerfully rejecting him once he has served his purpose.
Back at the family's home in New Rochelle, Mother discovers a black newborn baby who has been buried alive in her garden. The police arrive with Sarah, the baby's mother, and on an impulse Mother takes responsibility for both Sarah and her child. She marvels both at her newfound compassion and at the realization that her husband would never have allowed her to make such a decision were he present.
At Ellis Island, the immigrants arrive at their new home. Tateh eagerly begins his new life, drawing silhouettes and selling them from a street corner cart, but he quickly finds the American Dream not so readily accessible. Emma Goldman attempts to get him to join the Socialist movement, but he is determined to leave politics alone. The Little Girl grows ill and Tateh rapidly becomes destitute. A low point comes when a wealthy stranger offers to buy the Little Girl from him, and he snaps, cursing his new country. Inspired by the success of immigrant magician Harry Houdini, Tateh resolves to sell his cart and begin again somewhere else.
The people of Harlem dance to Coalhouse's music and he sings of his lost love, Sarah. Having discovered where she is, Coalhouse embarks on a plan to win back her affections, culminating in a visit to Henry Ford's factory for a brand new Model T, and the inventor himself proudly explains his system of automated production.
Back in New Rochelle, Mother and Edgar wait for the trolley to New York City and meet Tateh and the Little Girl, who are heading to Boston. To set an example for her son, who is staring rudely at them, Mother surprises Tateh by engaging him in polite conversation. On his way to find Sarah in New Rochelle, Coalhouse encounters a volunteer fire squad, led by chief Will Conklin, who react with hostility to the sight of a black man driving his own car. Meanwhile, Sarah sings to her son in the attic of their new home, attempting to explain how her heartbreak, fear and despair led her to make such a terrible decision.
Coalhouse arrives at the Family's door on his quest to find and win back Sarah. He is stunned to learn of her child's existence and when she refuses to see him, he resolves to return the following Sunday. This continues for some time, and eventually Mother invites him inside for a refreshment. He tells her of his career as a musician and his plans to support his family. Father returns home from the North Pole to find Coalhouse playing ragtime in the Family's parlor. He is stunned by the unexpected and unorthodox changes to his household, and he finds Mother unsympathetic to his complaints. He reflects on how much he has missed and how unsure he is of the world, but Mother and Younger Brother have embraced the changes. Hearing Coalhouse's music, Sarah finally descends to forgive him, and the lovers are joyfully reunited.
Coalhouse takes Sarah on an idyllic picnic, where he tells her of his hopes for the future, inspired by the words of Booker T. Washington. With their son in their arms, the pair sing about the promise this country offers their baby boy.
Emma Goldman speaks passionately in a Worker's Hall, promoting the textile mills strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where mill workers, including Tateh and his daughter, are suffering at the hands of the national militia called in to settle the strike. Younger Brother takes respite from the cold inside the rally and finds inspiration, imagining Goldman is speaking directly to him. The rally descends into a riot as Goldman is arrested, which mirrors the chaos in Lawrence. Tateh, participating in the strike, is attempting to evacuate his daughter to safety, but he is struck by a policeman and they are separated. At the last moment he leaps on the train to accompany her out of Lawrence. As she sobs, terrified at the violence, Tateh calms her by showing her his newest invention: a flip book of moving silhouettes. The conductor of the train they are on offers to buy the book and Tateh, hurriedly dubbing it a "moviebook", sells it to him for a dollar. Recognizing that he has a product people will buy, Tateh celebrates his first chance at real success and resolves never to look back.
Returning home from their picnic, Coalhouse and Sarah are stopped by Will Conklin and his volunteer fire squad. Conklin demands a toll be paid in exchange for passage but Coalhouse will not yield to the injustice. As Booker T. Washington gives a lecture advocating patience and dignity in the black community, the firemen destroy the Model T and roll it into a lake. Incensed, Coalhouse seeks justice but the system has none to offer. Furious and determined to keep his dignity, Coalhouse postpones his marriage to Sarah until his car is restored, which prompts her to seek justice on his behalf. She hears of a campaign rally in New Rochelle and goes in the hopes that the vice-presidential candidate will be able to help. However, she is mistaken for a would-be assassin by JP Morgan and beaten to death by the Secret Service. At her funeral, grief and anger overtake her mourners, who alternatively demand an end to such injustice and pray for the day when all people will have justice and equality. As Mother, Father, Younger Brother, Tateh and Emma Goldman look on, Coalhouse collapses by Sarah's grave.
;Act Two
In a dream sequence, The Little Boy watches Harry Houdini perform a daring escape act in which he is locked in a dynamite-laden box by Will Conklin. The box explodes, and although Houdini emerges smiling from the audience, the little boy wakes up screaming from his nightmare. He yells for his mother, proclaiming that something bad is going to happen. He is proved correct when a volunteer firehouse is bombed and several firemen are killed.
After Sarah's death, Coalhouse vows to get justice on his own terms. He terrorizes New Rochelle, killing several firemen and bombing a volunteer firehouse while posting demands that his car be restored and returned to him, and that Will Conklin be delivered into his hands. Booker T. Washington condemns Coalhouse's actions but many angry young men are drawn to his cause. The family stands at the center of the scandal as Mother retains custody of Sarah and Coalhouse's baby. Father blames her for bringing this turmoil into their lives, but Younger Brother furiously lambasts him for his blindness. He storms out of the house. Mother is becoming increasingly irritated by Father's actions, and encourages him to explain to their son what is happening. Instead, Father invites Edgar to a baseball game, an act that earns him his wife's open scorn. He expects it to be the genteel, respectful game he played in college, and is horrified to find himself in the middle of a rowdy crowd of immigrants and drunks.
Father's attempt at distraction is not enough to keep at bay the effects of Coalhouse's demands and acts of violence. As the outside world bears down on the family, Father decides to move them all to Atlantic City where there is the promise of an escape from the worries of New York. Upon their arrival, the family encounter a film crew taking shots of the boardwalk, directed by none other than Tateh, who has re-invented himself as "the Baron Ashkenazy", a pioneering director and producer of moving pictures. Also present in Atlantic City are Evelyn Nesbit, whose career is now in a downward spiral, and Harry Houdini, who is recovering from the loss of his beloved mother by delving into the supernatural. When he encounters Edgar on the street, the young boy urges Houdini to "warn the Duke" before running off. Edgar and the Little Girl soon become fast friends, prompting the growth of a friendship between Mother and Tateh. Together they marvel in how simple and profound children's lives are, and he confesses to her his humble origins, an act of trust that touches her greatly.
Back in Harlem, Younger Brother seeks out Coalhouse but is repeatedly turned away until Coalhouse is convinced that he can be trusted. As one of Coalhouse's men leads Younger Brother to the Gang's hideout, Coalhouse, who has banished music from his life, watches a carefree young couple and remembers his first encounter with Sarah. Once Younger Brother arrives, he is unable to articulate why he wants to join the fight. The men's profound thoughts are narrated by Emma Goldman, but instead he merely tells Coalhouse "I know how to blow things up.".
Coalhouse and his men, including Younger Brother, take over J.P. Morgan's magnificent library in the heart of New York City and threaten to blow it up. Father informs Mother that he's been summoned to New York to help reason with Coalhouse. Before he goes, he assures her that everything will soon return to the way it was, but Mother has changed too much to allow that to happen. Upon his arrival at the tense police encampment around the library, Father suggests that Coalhouse may listen to Booker T. Washington. Coalhouse allows Washington to enter the library but remains unreachable until Washington mentions the legacy Coalhouse is leaving his son. Coalhouse and Washington work out a deal for peaceful surrender but Younger Brother is enraged by Coalhouse's abandonment of their cause.
Washington leaves and Father enters the library as a hostage. The change in his life that he has been so forcefully trying to ignore finally manages to squeeze into his heart as Coalhouse convinces Younger Brother and his men that violence will not solve injustice. Coalhouse charges them all to change society through the power of their words and by telling their children their story. Profoundly affected by their leader's sacrifice, Younger Brother and the Gang leave the Morgan Library peacefully while Father tells Coalhouse about his son. Coalhouse thanks Father for his kindness and, as he leaves the library, is shot and killed by the police.
Edgar takes on the task of fulfilling Coalhouse's wishes that their story be told. The company returns to tell us the conclusion of each of their own stories: Younger Brother departs for Mexico to fight alongside Emiliano Zapata. Emma Goldman is arrested and deported. Booker T. Washington establishes the Tuskegee Institute, while Evelyn Nesbitt fades into obscurity. Harry Houdini realizes upon the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that Edgar's warning was the one truly mystical experience of his life. Father is killed when the RMS Lusitania is sunk, and after a year of mourning, Mother marries Tateh. They adopt Coalhouse and Sarah's son, naming him Coalhouse Walker III, and move to California. Watching his children play, Tateh is struck by an idea for a film series centering on a group of children of different races and classes banding together. The Era of Ragtime may be over, but as the united family is watched by the spirits of Coalhouse and Sarah, America continues to assimilate and flourish.

Songs

; Act I
; Act II
‡ - shortened in the 2009 Broadway revival
≠ - excised from the 2009 Broadway revival

Instrumentation

The Tony Award-winning orchestration of Ragtime, by William David Brohn is for twenty-six musicians:
In the original West End production, the fourth reed, bass trombone and harp parts were removed and the banjo player does not double on guitar or mandolin. The 2009 revival switched the doublings for the second and fourth woodwind parts. The fourth woodwind part in the original Broadway production had doublings for flute, bass clarinet, soprano sax, and alto sax.

Principal roles and casts

Original casts

Concert casts

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Original London production

2009 Broadway revival