Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Next to Normal or Ragtime?
#1Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/11/09 at 11:43pm
Ok, I have a dilemma. I really want to see both Ragtime at the Kennedy Center and Next to Normal next month, but I can only see one.
I am going to New York again in September but I am just hesitant as to whether Next to Normal will be there still (hopefully it will be)
Which should I see?
#2re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/11/09 at 11:47pmNext to Normal. Ragtime is an amazing musical but productions of it pop up all the time. Next to Normal needs to be seen with the original cast.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#2re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/11/09 at 11:54pmRagtime. Leigh Ann Larkin as Evelyn Nesbit!
#5re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 1:38amRagtime may be "all the time", but rarely, if ever to the scale of a professional production at the Kennedy Center. With the exception of Alice Ripley's performance, there's nothing about Next to Normal that can't be achieved- if not surpassed- in an average regional/college production. Ragtime is a better show, but Alice does give a good performance. It's really about what is more important to you.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Wanting life but never knowing how
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#6re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 1:54am
You seem to be very into Next to Normal from other posts I've seen... I would go with that, because I honestly don't know if it will still be around in September and this cast is not to be missed, in my opinion.
Also, are you between 17-25 years old? Join the Kennedy Center's ATTEND program, they announce certain dates where you can get discounted tickets to performances. Hopefully if you have a flexible schedule and they announce some dates for Ragtime, it might be a possibility for you to do both.
Updated On: 4/12/09 at 01:54 AM
#7re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 7:57amOooh... well, I'd personally say Ragtime, because you can get a cast recording of Next to Normal, but you can't get a recording of this Kennedy Center cast of Ragtime. But... I'm biased because I'm seeing Ragtime.
In my pants, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun! --Marius Pantsmercy
#8re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 9:16am
RAGTIME! I hate everyone who gets to see this, because I am unable to go. 
I'll have them clawing at eachother, like drag queens at a wig sale"
#10re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 10:18amI love both shows, but have to go with next to normal here. Ragtime was best seen with the unbeatable original cast. Don't miss the opportunity to see next to normal with its unbeatable original cast.
#12re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 10:44am
Ragtime. I'm pretty sure that by the time you go to NYC in September, Next to Normal will still be there.
And apparently Leigh Ann Larkin will be playing Evelyn Nesbit (sweet, I can't wait to go)
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#13re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 10:53am
<< I love both shows, but have to go with next to normal here. Ragtime was best seen with the unbeatable original cast. Don't miss the opportunity to see next to normal with its unbeatable original cast. >>
Totally agree !!!
#14re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 12:42pm
Go see RAGTIME. It's a better musical, in my opinion, and to be able to see a professional grand-scale production, at the Kennedy Center nonetheless, is an opportunity I wouldn't pass up!!
Also, I would suspect that if NEXT TO NORMAL even gets to the same fanbase size as PASSING STRANGE, then it will be open in September.
NEXT TO NORMAL is a great show, and a superb ORIGINAL show -- one of the best newly written & produced -- but not THAT good to miss out on RAGTIME, in my opinion.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#15re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 12:47pmI'm a huge fan of Next to Normal, but I have a feeling it will be around come September. This production of Ragtime is a rarer event.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
KingKong
Broadway Star Joined: 2/28/09
#16re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 12:53pm
I'm a huge fan of Next to Normal, but I have a feeling it will be around come September.
I wish I was that confident.
#17re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 4:14pm
"You seem to be very into Next to Normal from other posts I've seen... I would go with that, because I honestly don't know if it will still be around in September and this cast is not to be missed, in my opinion.
Also, are you between 17-25 years old? Join the Kennedy Center's ATTEND program, they announce certain dates where you can get discounted tickets to performances. Hopefully if you have a flexible schedule and they announce some dates for Ragtime, it might be a possibility for you to do both. "
I am very into N2N, well, at least from what I have heard... I have played the CR over and over and over, and I am in love with the score.
And I am 18 and have signed up for Attend, but when would they post the tickets? Because as of now there are no dates for it...
And thanks for all the input! This is going to be a tough decision, but my mom is talking about going to Maine in June and if we do, I can totally go see Ragtime and I am going to try to convince her to let me see N2N on our way up... so I shall have my fingers crossed, if I can't, it will be a tough decision
#18re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 4:32pmThey generally post dates by the month, so by the beginning of May you should know if there will be any for Ragtime.
#19re: Next to Normal or Ragtime?
Posted: 4/12/09 at 4:42pm
ok sweet! thanks! 
If I can't get Attend tickets and I end up not getting tickets for N2N, I might go the final performance!
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