RAGTIME and PARADE

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:08am

Two EXCELLENT shows that closed way before there time. Does anyone think a National Tour of these two great will ever happen again?

I think they both deserve to live on tour...they would do so well. Didn't Networks do a a non-equity tour of RAGTIME?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:09am

I'm sure there will be something, particularly for RAGTIME, but perhaps not with the original direction, choreography, etc. I don't know if PARADE would have much of a touring success, although I'm certainly not a pro on any of this.

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:18am

Do you think Ragtime will be done as large as it was done on Broadway. I've never seen the show myself, but is there alot of choreography in this show?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:43am

Some choreography, mostly lots of "musical staging", as they like to call it.

RAGTIME was done at the Ford Center, which is a huge, cavernous theatre. It is a large show with large sets. IT worked there, it can surely work in a giant auditorium somewhere else.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:40am

We just had a community theater stage RAGTIME here in Toronto (My review is copied to the Toronto region site.)

There were a few glitches but overall a very fine production using an open stage with a riser along the back and a few set pieces shifted on and off for each scene.

It was well sung and well acted and the audience thorougly loved it. I did to - I had been at the premiere 10 years ago and had seen the Broadway edition as well as the non-equity tour which though simplified was very well done.

It underscores my theatry that if a show is well written it can be done simply and still have the power to move people.

[blah2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 6:01am

Interestingly enough, Garth Drabinsky, the original producer of these two shows produced them, along with the revival of Showboat, as an "American Trilogy" about class, racism and the american experience. I think they are both brilliant shows.

However, with that said, I saw the national tour of Ragtime and it was dramatically paired down from the original Broadaway show. I was disapointed by that fact alone. I've done the show a few times and it is a bitch of a show to costume, stage and a special treat for the set designer. Ultimately, wasn't it the amount of money they threw into Ragtime that caused its premature (imo) demise?

Parade, too...brilliant. I don't know how it would translate into the current "entertain me" culture of today's musical audience. It provokes thought and feelings a lot of people wouldn't want to delve into after a nice dinner at Red Lobster...call me cynical.

[broadwaybaby221]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 6:23am

Interesting that both these musicals should pop up together since these were my musicals at school the past 2 years. Last year was Parade and the year before that was Ragtime.

Back on topic, it would be amazing if either of them toured. Both are wonderful musicals with beautiful scores.

[Parsley]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 6:31am

Wonderful musicals. Ragtime is, for me, my favourite musical. Always hits the spot. I have transferred it onto DVD (it was staged as a concert before it came to the West End, in an almost identical form and was aired in the UK on the BBC) and watch it often.

[crzyrocket]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 9:43am

The New Rep Theatre in Boston is putting on Ragtime this May with a supposed 30-person cast.

New Rep productions are always wonderful, and I'm sure this one will not disappoint. I've been waiting so long to see Ragtime live and I'm sure I'll be a tad emotional. I get choked up just listening to the cast recording.

[PK2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 9:53am

Ragtime - I saw the second or third touring production in Boston. It was a scale down production and I was extremely disappointed by the quality on stage. However, it has full orchestra and it sounds terrific. It was at Wang Theatre and that is one of the worst theatres to do theatre in my opinion.

I also saw the London production at Papermill Playhouse in NJ last year. I thought it was terrific. It was very different from the Broadway production. My boyfriend who saw original Broadway production also loved this production as much.

Parade - I'm dying to see this show. I posted a comment at the other board recently and got a lot of bad comment regarding this show. I was surprised because I love the cast recording and still listen it very frequently. I love to see it for myself to see if it works on stage.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:00am

I also adore the cast recording for PARADE, but everything I've read has lead me to believe that it had a weak book and therefore did not translate well on stage. I think it would be very interesting to see, but I highly doubt it's as flawless as the recording would lead you to believe.

This is what I consider to be a very telling review of the cast album (taken from playbill.com):

PARADE (RCA)
Having run a mere ten, not-so-full weeks at the 1,100-seat Vivian Beaumont Theatre, it is to be suspected that very many people will listen to the original cast album of Jason Robert Brown's Parade without having had the opportunity to see it. And I can just hear them now, angrily crying "wait a minute, this stuff is good, damn those critics," and wondering how the show could possibly have failed so resoundingly.

That's a good question, if you're judging the score by the disc. The short answer, I think, is that from the very beginning of the show -- in the theatre -- you were hit with a feeling the creators were stacking the decks, pulling every possible string to manipulate you into feeling whatever it was they wanted you to feel. It was almost as if the production had a wall of pretentiousness, emblazoned with the slogan "this show is artistic, and if you don't like it that's your problem." At least that's the way I felt; whatever the problem was, Parade sure antagonized its audiences.

And now comes the original cast album, displaying a score far better -- and more beautiful -- than it sounded in the theater. Brown's first Broadway offering is intelligent, moving and highly impressive.

In the theater, the creators seemed to want you to dislike their leading characters; presumably so they could turn it around in the second act, when the pair became unlikely lovers. I disliked them all right, so much so that I had little patience for anything they had to say or sing most of the evening. This was especially the case with Brent Carver, playing the doomed Leo Frank. Carver is an extremely talented actor, and he shines through on the cast album with a warm and sympathetic performance. In the theater, though, director Harold Prince and his collaborators apparently did not want you to feel sympathy for Leo when he was railroaded for a crime he didn't commit, thus presenting the audience with a moral dilemma. I certainly didn't feel sympathy for Leo in the theater, so much so that his songs -- which are attractive and moving on the recording -- fell on singularly unreceptive ears. Multiply that by dozens of reviewers and thousands of viewers, and that might explain why Parade so quickly faltered.

Is there a future life for Parade? maybe as a small-scale chamber piece, without all that production and all that acting and all that pretension? Absent the various distractions, Jason Robert Brown's score is rich and varied, and I imagine it will become even more enjoyable with repeated listening. There is also an especially fine set of orchestrations from Don Sebesky, who manages to keep up with Brown's many changes of pace and uses his orchestra to comment on the action. I also suspect musical director Eric Stern deserves a good deal of credit. Some of the major numbers, like "Real Big News" and the extended trial sequence, are extremely complicated and impeccably handled.

Let me also add that while not without flaws, this is easily the finest score of the current, undernourished season. While it is uncommon for a quick failure to take the Tony Award for Best Score over shows that are still running, Parade just might be able to pull it off. A considerable portion of the voters are out-of-towners, who were unable or unwilling to make a special mid-winter trip solely to see this poorly received show. (Theoretically, of course, Tony voters only vote in categories in which they've seen all the nominees.) Listening to this disc -- and comparing it to Footloose and The Civil War, so help us -- many voters might well wonder how a show with such a high quality score could have failed, which I imagine will be the reaction of many listeners.

Updated On: 4/4/06 at 10:00 AM

[keatonbynumbers]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:09am

It was a bit of a manipulative show, LOL. I saw PARADE four times on Broadway and twice on the tour and the production itself is deeply flawed--but oh so fixable. Because the score is brilliant and the book is brilliant... the execution was just all wrong. It's very difficult to ignore how beautiful the score is and if you can divorce the book from how it was carried out in production, it's clear that the book itself is very good, too. I've always felt that PARADE was an easy fix.

[firescape]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:15am

as far as I am concerned this is one of the greatest shows all around. As far as critics, I never heard or read reviews but I didnt know that it was attacked. As far as its limited run? If you look inside the cd jacket and read you will see that it was only intended to be a limited run just like most shows at the lincoln theater. Piazza has extended several times and this is largely due to its Immense success including six tony awards! Parade did go on a national tour with equity actors. I saw it. Ragtime did as well go on tour. I saw that one too.
Updated On: 4/4/06 at 10:15 AM

[Bruce Memblagh!]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:17am

Parsley, I loved the concert version and also have it on DVD now - and much prized it is, too. I stumbled across the transmission of Ragtime quite by chance while visiting friends in London. A beautifully scored musical and the concert was excellent.

[PK2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:30am

Bruce Memblagh - I just sent you a PM if you can take a look. thank you.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:41am

I wasn't aware that The Light In The Piazza won the Tony for Best Musical. For some reason I've gone a whole year under the delusion that the award went to Spamalot.

Hmm.

[firescape]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:43pm

Actually the world would be a better place if that was just a delusion. You are correct. My bad.....Piazza won 6 OTHER TONYS, including best orchestrations. You know, the music? Yeah, thats what I was referring to. Clearly, Spamalot did not have the best music.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:19pm

I still find it interesting how often Parade surfaces as a fascinating if flawed show. I really wish someone would restage this.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:58pm

I have this vision (hope, really) that some day Ragtime will receive a revival and be immensely popular. My dream is that it will be like the Chicago revival and win lots of awards. I liken the original Broadway production of Ragtime to the original Chicago in that both got swallowed up in the hullaballoo over another show (Chicago opened the same year as a Chorus Line, and Ragtime opened the same year as Lion King).

I can dream, can't I?

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:11pm

I'll be dreaming right along with you, Adam.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 6:27pm

Parade never did much for me. It has some nice songs, but nothing that really grabbed me. However, I would love to see it staged.

[Adjie]

Posted: 4/5/06 at 6:55pm

Frontrowcentre - My husband and I just saw the Ragtime you reviewed - we both cried like babies! We saw it ten years ago at the Ford centre too! Still an amazing show!