Possibly for reasons of length, he reduces Doctorow's creepily fascinating capitalists to stick figures. In some cases, adapter Terrence McNally has made matters more thuddingly didactic. You can agree with the political attitudes these caricatures embody and still find them inadequate, old news, boring. Washington (Tommy Hollis) is stuffed with dignity, while the racist fire chief Willie Conklin (David Mucci) is a cringing thug. Morgan (Mike O'Carroll) must be selfish and haughty and Henry Ford (Larry Daggett) a little nutty. Emma Goldman (Judy Kaye) must be down-to-earth, nurturing and admirable, while J.P. Mother (Marin Mazzie, in superb voice) has to become a proto-feminist. (Brian Stokes Mitchell), must become a revolutionary, and Younger Brother (Steven Sutcliffe), the only WASP character with a social conscience, must join him. In keeping with '70s attitudes, the pianist, Coalhouse Walker Jr. Already we're in cliched territory, though the cliches must have looked fresher when the book was published in 1975 than they do now. The black family is the unmarried couple of a pianist and a washerwoman and their infant son. The Jewish family consists of a Lithuanian immigrant and the young daughter he fiercely protects. is placed at the center of the novel, and the musical, because they are the ones who have lessons to learn about how they're no longer the center of the country. The middle-class WASP family - called Father, Mother, Mother's Younger Brother, etc. ![]() With academic neatness, these include a WASP family, a Jewish family and an African American family. Washington - and Doctorow used most of them as background and counterpoint to the story of his fictional characters. The historical era that Doctorow wrote about is gluttonously rich in what now seem American archetypes - from immigrant anarchist Emma Goldman to escape artist Harry Houdini, from millionaire banker J.P. ![]() ![]() Doctorow novel upon which it's (quite faithfully) based, the show has breadth without depth. ![]() The first-rate cast is in first-rate form. Eugene Lee's sets, with their wide, freedom-promising vistas and their echoes of old photos and postcards, could hardly be more beautiful and appropriate. Director Frank Galati has composed one breathtaking stage picture after another. Features the song "The Show Biz," which was replaced by "I Have a Feeling," which was in turn cut before opening in New York."Ragtime," the much-anticipated musical that opened last night at the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts, boasts a lot of ambition, a lot of beauty and a lot of hard work. Drabinsky (5), Jay David Saks (62) Liner Notes Marty Bell (3) Conductor Ted Sperling (40) Orchestrations William David Brohn (72), Moe Koffman (4) Vocal Arrangements Stephen Flaherty (76) Performer Jim Corti (4), Mary Bond Davis (16), Michael Fletcher (6), Peter Friedman (7), Mark Jacoby (20), Marin Mazzie (49), Audra McDonald (76), Brian Stokes Mitchell (60), Lynnette Perry (18), Nick Rose (2), Camille Saviola (3), Steven Sutcliffe (4) Notes Recorded while the show was in rehearsals in Toronto. Show Details Show Ragtime (12) Music Stephen Flaherty (76) Lyrics Lynn Ahrens (64) Book Terrence McNally (24) Recording Details Date 1996 Type Audio / Stage Cast Language English Location Canada / ON / Toronto Producer Garth H.
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