Michael Dale raves for "Ragtime"

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:35pm

Now I am really getting excited!
http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=3696

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:44pm

I'm seeing it on Saturday -- I can't wait. :)

[apdarcey]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:45pm

of course. (yay)

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:48pm

I'm going to the Thursday matinee.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:53pm

my brother and i will be there saturday afternoon...so excited!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:55pm

Ahrens & Flaherty are so very underappreciated. ANASTASIA, SEUSSICAL, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, MY FAVORITE YEAR, DESS ROSE, and one of my favorite Broadway shows - RAGTIME.

IT WAS THE MUSIC
OF SOMETHING BEGINNING -
AN ERA EXPLODING,
A CENTURY SPINNING,
IN RICHES AND RAGS,
AND IN RHYTHM AND RHYME -
THE PEOPLE CALLED IT "RAGTIME."

RAGTIME!
RAGTIME!
(Ragtime, Ragtime!)
RAGTIME!

A Broadway Revival is deserved, but won't happen. Let's hope we get a Tour in the near future!

Updated On: 6/21/05 at 09:55 PM

[jmnpublications]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:55pm

I love Michael's writing and really look forward to his reviews. I'll be seeing RAGTIME on July 3 and can barely contain my enthusiasm.

I can't wait to hear reports from all of you who are seeing it this week.

lc

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:55pm

What was cut? I want to be prepared.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 9:57pm

No swing.

Instead of Coalhouse's Model T, there are two black chairs pushed together.

That's what I've heard.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:37pm

That's the least of it.

[observer]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 1:43am

There is at least one Model T available. When TheatreWorks of Mountain View was selected to be the first post-Bway regional theater to perform Ragtime, they searched the country and found a rusting unrestored Model T in Kansas, and bought it for a few thousand dollars (I think). They then completely restored it for the show, complete with a golf cart motor and a function that allowed it to be raised and swiveled on the spot. The restoration cost $30K, but it looked so good, and that car seems to have been rented continuously since, delivering a handsome return, I'm sure. Ragtime has been the "it" show on the West Coast for several years. Always sells out, always gets SOs.

I'd be disappointed to have that car missing from a production of Ragtime.
Updated On: 6/22/05 at 01:43 AM

[hannahshule]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 5:36am

But everything else is so good, you may not notice the missing car so much.

If the car was that important to the show, it would have been nominated for a Tony.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 9:23am

Ragtime is strong enough to withstand a minimal production. I wish I could get to this one.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 7:45pm

When I saw Ragtime at a non-equity (I believe) tour, it was in Naples, Florida at the Barbara P. Mann Performing Arts Center and was only about twenty minutes from where Henry Ford lived and so when that car came out, the house went nuts!

[observer]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 7:48pm

Hey DeDee,
Ragtime is my all time favotite show, and I could certainly enjoy it without the car. I do every time I listen to the CD (hundreds of times). But in general, I like sets, props, costumes and other illusions of stagecraft to provide me additional subjects of enjoyment.
Call me a heathen, but I still buy tickets and truly enjoy a production in my shallow simple kind of way.
I am not worthy,
Observer

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/23/05 at 10:11pm

Saw it today and will write a short review tomorrow. In one word: Astounding.

[takehomeazak06]

Posted: 6/23/05 at 10:33pm

I do not like ragtime all that much. it has its great moments but then is has its great weaknesses as well.

i also think that the story is very unrealistic like one family has a guy go off to antartica with admiral perry who then waves on his way his future wife's husband. he also leaves behind a psyic son and a realtion who then becomes a mexican revolutionary after threatening to blow up a library. Not to mention coincidences that are very weird.

I do think some of the songs are amazing. -- daddy's son. back to before. Journey on. act 1 finale. they are all top notch. however the storyline keeps me from liking the show.

sorry. i think the story is crap but the music awesome.

[observer]

Posted: 6/24/05 at 12:43am

Glad you liked the music, takehome. Don't forget Gettin'Ready Rag, Wheels of a Dream, Journey On, Atlantic City...
I do understand your issues with the plot line, but I think they may stem from the fiction mixing with actual people and events. In some ways, the coincidences are small-worldy, but it's not exactly Forrest Gump either. Ultimately it's fiction, and if you think of Tateh as representative of all successful immigrants in the persona of one (and concede that clairvoyance could exist in some people), there isn't much suspension of disbelief required-- far less than most musicals. What I don't like is the subtle flavoring of history such as the heroine-like portrayal of Emma Goldman (who was a pretty hard core, end-justifies-the-means communist), and the general cynicism toward American culture. But it's not Oliver Stone any more than it's Gump.
What I really do like about Ragtime beyond the score itself is that the songs really move the story along, that it is both a tragedy and a story of triumph, and that it captures a historical moment in a musical backbeat bridging the gap from vaudeville to radio/musical theater, from reconstruction to industrial revolution, from aggrarian to urban society, from relative homogeneity to melting pot. And yes, the Model T is a both a symbol and literal device that played a huge role in this American transformation; I believe its inclusion in the story is very important - though nearly unavoidable.