Ragtime at Lincoln Center
There is one subtle but bold change made to the opening of Ragtime. Traditionally the show begins with a Little Boy speaking alone onstage directly to the audience.
"In 1902 Father built a grand house..." and the scene comes to life around him.
In the Lincoln Center revival the moment has a subtle, but powerful shift. Now the first thing we see is a very small black boy (Coalhouse Walker III), running around a piano, occasionally tapping some of the keys. He is joined by the Little Boy, and Mother, who stops the running. The Little (white) Boy sits Coalhouse III down, and starts telling the story directly to him. When the scene emerges in front of them, the Little Boy joins, but Coalhouse III remains the singular audience member.
Ragtime, for those who don't know, follows three intersecting families at the turn of the 20th century - a privileged white family, a black couple (Coalhouse and Sarah) from Harlem, and a Jewish immigrant father (Tateh) and his young daughter (Little Girl). Their lives will come to intersect in surprising ways that come to mirror how America itself was changing, learning, and transitioning at the time. Those familiar with the story know that that the central family "left standing" as it were at the end is one quite different, and yet connected to, the three separate families at the start. By the end, Mother has left Father and married the Tateh, blending their families and making the Little Boy and the Little Girl step siblings. Because of tragic events surrounding the black couple, Mother has adopted their son - Coalhouse III. Thus the white mother, Jewish immigrant father, white son, Jewish immigrant daughter, and black adopted son have become a new, beautiful family. And the opening of the show has been reframed as an explanation to Coalhouse III who was an infant during the events of the story, of how they came to be that way, where he came from, and the dreams his parents had for his future.
It is a beautiful, powerful choice - much more so than the similar change in the not-so-recent Central Park revival of Into The Woods where the whole show is framed as a retelling to the Baker's young son (it made beautiful sense at the top and tail of the show, but made no dramaturgical sense in the middle, along with some other odd choices.)
Additions like these are beautiful and smart, especially given that this revival sticks HEAVILY to the original production - so much so I wondered why, other than bringing a classic back to a new audience, it was being done. Compare still photos from the original and revival and, other than the cast members, you can't really tell the difference. This show is, arguably, more important and poignant now than it was when it debuted in the 1990's (though part of the beauty of the original timing is that we were once again about to enter a new century in America). Why revive it other than just to let us hear it sing again?
In some sense it's better not to reinvent the wheel (certainly not just for the sake of it). The opening, especially, to the original Ragtime is not only brilliantly written, but was brilliantly staged. It is one of the most iconic opening numbers in musical theater history.
And this was no mean feat. Based on the heralded novel, many wondered if Ragtime could be theatrically adapted at all. There is no central character, but rather a HUGE ensemble of original and historical figures that interweave in complex ways. It is a feat just keeping track of the GROUPS of people in this story, let alone the individual characters within them.
Once can't help comparing this cast to the original. Both are wonderful, but the original cast of Ragtime is ICONIC. It brought the attention of the world onto then (relative) newcomers Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, not to mention the wonderful Marin Mazzie... even the almost line-less Little Girl was the broadway debut role of Lea Michele. Indeed, the original Little Boy (in the Canadian workshops) here comes into his own as Tateh.
The revival cast is wonderful. But you can't stop thinking about the original, in the way that any production of Into The Woods will conjure the ghosts of that original production. No one can top Audra McDonald as Sarah. One way this is most evident is in the singing... when Ragtime debuted in the 1990's there was still a strong school of classical voice that heavily influenced many of the stars that came of age then - Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelly O'Hara... those performers can belt brilliantly too, but they were trained in classical scores and sounded like it. Now the standard practice is "belting is all the foundation you need, and just train on some high notes in case you need them". All of the performers in this new Ragtime are incredible singers (I'm a particular fan of Cassie Levy and Joshua Henry), but there is an unmistakable, if subtle, pop bass for all of these performers and it changes the sound of the score. That surprised me with Levy, it was downright frustrating with Nichelle Lewis (Sarah).
With the exception of the smart new beginning of the show, the direction of this new production leaves something to be desired - mainly because everything is so sparse. It's one step up from a City Center Encores production, which isn't bad in and of itself, but for a show that's so epic in scale, that follows so many different characters with not a ton of inherent physical action, and a basically sung through score, this is a piece that feels like it needs to either be a concert or one step away from a full out spectacle. If you replaced the performers with high schoolers the direction wouldn't feel out of place.
There has always been a dramaturgical challenge with this story - there is no protagonist. No audience insert. In a similar way that the musical Titanic founders, this is an ensemble show with no solid handhold for the audience to slip into the story. Yes, people will inevitably relate to one character more than another given their demographic, background and personal history, and no, there's no easy solution for this, but whereas, say, Into the Woods is an ensemble show with many characters to relate to, but CENTRALLY focusing on the fairy tale-y ambiguous Baker and the Baker's Wife, any time we feel we have a center to the Ragtime story the ground shifts under our feet in a destabilizing, not intriguing way. It seems that Mother is being set up to be our protagonist - she is the first true principal character to speak in the show, the first to get a central song and, arguably, the character with the most obvious "I Want" song in the show. (not to mention eleven o'clock number). When Sarah and Coalhouse show up they seem, at first, as if they will be catalysts to Mother's story.
But once Sarah and Coalhouse are reunited it quickly becomes apparent that their relationship will be the center of the show... the only problem is SO much time has gone by by the time we arrive there that the shift is confusing.
But once we are rooted with Sarah and Coalhouse we take so many detours into the lives of secondary historical figures that we once more become unmoored.
It's the same problem with Titanic. We get a song learning about each of the people on the ship, but then leave each for so long we almost forget about them by the time the ship hits the iceberg. By that point so much time has past that we no longer feel deeply emotionally invested in who will survive or not, and start to feel more like the beginning of A Chorus Line finding out which few of a random group will end up making the first cut. There a reason, despite all the melodrama, that James Cameron gave us a central couple to follow through 1st, 2nd and 3rd class on the ship all the way until, through, and after the sinking.
The truth is the original Ragtime had several stars - most notably the composer and lyricist - the great Ahrens and Flaherty, who burst onto the Broadway scene with this show after showing their incredible skill with Once On This Island and My Favorite Year, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell...
But now, looking into the future for this piece, it seems that Ahrens and Flaherty will be left as the singular, central stars of this show. It is the score that rises above everything else, and will elevate every production and cast that comes after.
What is most powerful about this show is how it captures the promise of America and how, despite all its flaws, it still hopes that promise will be fulfilled in future generations. At the moment, we, the audience, are the the grand, or great-grandchildren of the characters in this story...we must witness what our ancestors did, or didn't do on our behalf, how their dreams have, or haven't come true, and whether or not we still believe in the dreams they did. And that will always make this a beautiful, moving and important show.
One of the last lyrics, sung by the cast to the audience is: "Well, when he is old enough I will show him America."
That is what the company has just done. They have shown US America.
What do we make of what we see?
Laura Sele
Ragtime is currently playing on Broadway at Lincoln Center (Vivian Beaumont Theatre)
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