"Ragtime' on Broadway, reconsidered (2nd review)

I'm re-visiting Ragtime, the Musical— the original production as well as the Broadway revival, which I reviewed in November.

I'm able to do this with the aid of Lincoln Center Library's collection of theater videotape recordings. They are open, without charge, to anyone working in theater-related fields. (And wouldn't we all like to have such a collection in our own hometowns?) Thus last weekend, I was able to see and hear again the production that I saw originally during its opening week in January 1998 and that I referred to, by recollection, in my recent article.

It turns out I forgot something important— and so, apparently, did the producers of the 2009 revival. Like Houdini in the show's cast, the original Ragtime fooled the audience into seeing more than what was in front of its eyes. The show acquired a reputation for extravagance— so much so that the 2009 producers made a point of stripping things down. But on my second videotape viewing, it turns out that the 1998 show used almost no scenery or props. All of its supposedly expensive wonders were suggested by lighting and by rear projections.

It's true that the original show, directed by Frank Galati and choreographed by Graciela Daniele, had a huge cast and a long duration: The first act alone ran an hour and 35 minutes. The size of the chorus as well as the script have been trimmed in the current revival, and effectively so.

Cumbersome scaffolding

However, the new production uses scaffolding that's more cumbersome than anything I'd seen earlier. As I wrote, the metallic levels do add some dramatic points; but on the whole, the cleaner look of 1998 was better.

It's edifying to see that most of the old production was played with just a dark blue screen at the rear, with occasional projected slides of the Lower East Side or Henry Ford's assembly line or Atlantic City.

The revival has posted an early closing notice for January 10. That sad news says more about the taste of today's ticket-buyers than it does about the quality of the show or the performers.

Since the very year that Ragtime opened, shows aimed at youngsters have dominated Broadway box offices, from spectacles like The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Hairspray and Shrek to smaller-scale productions like The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Spring Awakening and Avenue Q (not for little kids, true, but only a Sesame Street fan could be excited by it). Even the worthy Wicked gained commercially success because it attracts older folks with childhood memories of The Wizard of Oz and teenagers with dreams. Ragtime, with its story of historic prejudices, is too serious, apparently.

Great theatrical moment

One other marvelous revelation in the old video is the magical on-stage movement of Brian Stokes Mitchell. His work always has impressed me, but, frankly, in my first review I forgot how lean and lithe he was as Coalhouse Walker, dancing, strutting and leaping as well as playing the piano and singing magnificently. Mitchell's duet with Audra MacDonald in "The Wheels of a Dream" is a great moment in theater history. And at a video screen we are able to see, and clock, how Marin Mazzie, as Mother, held her climactic note for 14 exciting seconds.

Why can't Philadelphia, with its unique place in theater history, find foundation funding for a theater video repository similar to New York's? As things stand now, every production in Philadelphia"“ and in Chicago, Boston and elsewhere"“ vanishes into imperfect memory when the run ends. ♦


To read Steve Cohen's original review of Ragtime, click here.