Much of the original Broadway cast reunited for a special benefit concert supporting Entertainment Community Fund, held March 27 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre. And its original cast now contains a number of Broadway legends: Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Peter Friedman, Marin Mazzie, Judy Kaye, and so many others. history and its messages on the importance of equality and justice have made it a cultural touchstone. In the years since, Ragtime has come to mean a great deal to its fans, a legend amongst theatregoers and industry professionals alike. But after it received mixed reviews from critics, and lost the Best Musical Tony Award to The Lion King, Ragtime closed Januafter 834 performances and 27 previews. Ragtime opened on Broadway January 18, 1998, directed by Frank Galati. The effect is that these comparatively small stories about individuals speak to something larger, to the history of this country at the dawn of the 20th century-and, unfortunately, well beyond. Washington, Henry Ford, and Evelyn Nesbit. The show’s fictional characters are placed against the backdrop of real-life historic figures like Harry Houdini, Booker T. It's set in NYC, during a moment of unique change around the turn of the century-“an era exploding,” as the musical’s title number puts it. Over a decade, we watch as these three groups-wealthy white suburbanites, immigrants, and African Americans-all struggle to find their own piece of success in America, a struggle that seems to put them constantly at odds with each other. Ragtime tracks an Eastern European immigrant, Tateh, and his daughter a Black ragtime pianist, Coalhouse Walker Jr., and his fiancée, Sarah and a wealthy white family, led by Mother. The 1998 Broadway production of Ragtime showed that American artists, too, could reach the epic heights-both in terms of storytelling and opulent physical productions-that had become wildly successful on Broadway through a string of big-budget West End transfers like Cats, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon. Doctorow's 1975 novel and telling a dramatized history of America at the turn of the 20th century. This moment, right here.There are musicals, and then there's Ragtime. “I was sitting here last night, watching, and thinking ‘This is why I do this. It’s cooled off by then, Sutherlin points out, and the atmosphere becomes charged when the stage lights go up. But they, too, know it’s all part of the process.Īround 8:30 or 9 p.m., every day, they run the songs, the scenes and the whole show. The actors, singers and dancers are clearly uncomfortable, in their heavy turn-of-the-century clothes, under the bright afternoon sun. Everybody’s here right now, that’s where the process is supposed to be.” “We’re still doing the final touches on the set. The full nine-piece band joined the company at the Demens site a day ago. Everybody is still working to find their rhythms.” And we have to start shaping it back together. “It’s the time where all the other creatives get to add their components – which is great, but that just means everything falls apart. Ragtime is in “tech week,” Sutherlin explains. Top-tier creatives for “Ragtime”: Heather Beal (choreographer), Macy Smith (costume shop manager), Alexa Perez (assistant director), Erica Sutherlin (director) and Latoya McCormick (musical director). You never really step into your whole costume parade, or costume moment, and go ‘All of this is excellent.’ You adjust.” “Well,” she smiles, “I think we got a lil’ journey. I get to see what’s working, what’s not working.” “I approved the designs, and I saw the renderings, but this is the first time I’m seeing the costumes on the bodies. “This is day one of them putting on clothes,” director Erica Sutherlin says. Still, the annual “park” show must go on – Ragtime opens April 12 – and after several intense weeks of song-and-dance rehearsal inside American Stage’s air-conditioned theater building, the large company will meet here, six days a week, eight hours a day, until everything is finely-tuned and pitch perfect.Ĭostumes for Ragtime, a story of early immigrants and the American Dream, have just arrived. Petersburg, and the cast and crew of American Stage’s Ragtime: The Musical, gathered on and around an open stage in Demens Landing Park, are feeling it.
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