Creating 'Ragtime'- Page 2

[springstagemanager]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 9:06am

Thanks so much for this... I absolutely love this musical.

And, thanks, LesMisere, for uploading!!!

[springstagemanager]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 9:23am

... WOW... Audra's voice cracked.

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 6:10am

I'd love to see Ragtime "revived" in Broadway, or touring.

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 5/23/12 at 7:36am

Does anyone know if this can still be viewed online? Quite desperate to see it..

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/23/12 at 8:39am

To answer someone's much earlier question ... the Little Boy in the Los Angeles production of "Ragtime" was Blake McIver Ewing. Alex Strange was his understudy. Blake was fantastic in the part. He broke your heart with his sincerity, and he had the voice of an angel (he was a Junior Star Search vocal champion). They wanted him to go to Broadway with it, but he turned it down to stay in Los Angeles, so his understudy Alex Strange got the part. I was always disappointed in Alex's performance by comparison. It didn't hold a candle to what Blake had done.

There was an earlier TV special on "Ragtime," hosted by Alex Trebek and Tawny Little called "Ragtime: The American Premiere." I found this TV special to be far superior to the latter one hosted by Whoopi Goldberg on PBS. It had clips of the Los Angeles cast, the Toronto (soon to be Broadway) cast, plus wonderful history on all of the real-life characters. They showed more scenes and music, more interviews, more rehearsals. All of it centered around opening night of the show at the Shubert Theatre in L.A.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 1:26am

You know, I recorded so much sh*t off of television growing up, I often can't manage my memories of exactly what I had preserved and what I had just watched. I could have sworn there was an opening night live special of the Los Angeles production at the Shubert but I could never remember anything from it and have yet to locate the tape it's recorded on. So, I figured I had dreamt it all up!

Reading your post, which confirms I'm not making it all up and actually did happen, makes me want to turn the place upside down to find the one tape it's recorded on. 1998 was also the year that followed one of the most life-changing eras of my life, and as much as a nut I am for theatre, all the events did keep me from being on top of the latest show. Even my beloved Les Miserables got lonesome during that time (still managed to see it 5 times during that period, though. Yes, that's considered neglect!!!!!).

To make a long babble short, my Stritch-esque recall shows much fragmentation due to the effects of drama '98. So I must now make it right by forwarding through thousands of hours of magnetic tape.

Must dust off the ol' VCR first, though.

[jazzynat]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 4:58am

I'd love to see this documentary as well. I too never got the chance to see the production. Listened to the OCR on a long drive from LA to SF and loved it.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 6:55am

I have this documentary on tape. I tried looking for clips of the Alex Trebek hosted version on YouTube, but couldn't find a thing.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 7:50am

I remember they also interview some of the celebrities there for opening night, including Michele Lee, Richard Thomas, and Chita Rivera, who talks about working with Brian Stokes Mitchell in "Kiss of the Spider Woman."

I had it taped on VHS once, too, along with the later PBS special. But I have no idea where that tape is now.

EDIT: The nicest part for me was getting to see the fantastic Los Angeles cast doing some of their numbers in performance. Marcia Mitzman-Gaven doing "Back to Before." Marcia, John Rubenstein, and John Dossett doing "Journey On." Susan Wood singing "Crime of the Century" (best and prettiest Evelyn Nesbit yet), LaChanze singing "Your Daddy's Son," and LaChanze and Brian Stokes Mitchell singing "Wheels of a Dream."

They also showed the Toronto cast recording the first "song sampler" CD, so you got to see both casts.

Updated On: 5/24/12 at 07:50 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 8:20am

Speaking of "Ragtime," LaChanze, and others ... have you all seen this recent rehearsal video?


Andrew Rannells, Rebecca Luker, Nikki M. James, Brian d'Arcy James, Rachel York and LaChanze singing Wheels of a Dream with Ahrens and Flaherty

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:29pm

After playing previews for the past month, RAGTIME will officially open a summer-long run at the Shaw festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake this coming Saturday (May 26.) Friends who have seen teh show in previews tell me that the production is even better than the original.

On my radio program Saturday morning (8 to 9 am eastern time) Dennis Kucherawy shares his memories of working on the original production an we play highlights from the score. Dennis was a VP at Livent when RAGTIME premiered. If you have the CD's of Livent's KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN and SHOW BOAT he wrote essays for the booklets. In our interview he talks about working with Doctorow, McNally, Ahrens and Flaherty and shares insights such as how "Sarah Brown Eyes" was added to the show. If you are interested you can listen live on the PROUD-FM website.
PROUD FM WEBSITE

[Famebroadway2]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 5:44pm

i would LOVE to see this special. Anyone know where i can find a copy?

[Famebroadway2]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 5:48pm

Were the fireworks in the opening , cut after Toronto?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/25/12 at 10:04pm

The fireworks were in the curtain call..more like pinwheels actually. And yes they were cut sometime after Toronto.