RAGTIME headed to Broadway!!! — Page 2

The Broadway would be an ideal house for this production.

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Love Ragtime! Good news!

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Contrary to popular opinion, the neil Simon is not booked...and theater owners have extraordinary discretion on which of their houses a show will go into.

Don't get me wrong, I adore Noll. But I've seen countless productions of this show and (to me) nobody has ever come close to being as glorious as Marin was. But if Noll took the role, I would be very very happy.

Look at the figures:

1998 - 96 % (https://www.broadwayworld.com/grossesshow.cfm?show=RAGTIME&year=1998)

and 1999 - 87 % (https://www.broadwayworld.com/grossesshow.cfm?show=RAGTIME&year=1999)

For any reasonably budgeted show that would have ensured payoff and healthy profit. But with Garth Drabinsky skimming $200 K a week it pushed the break-even too high. THAT is why Eisner closed the show soon after taking control of Livent. But the attendance figures show that it was popular production. Less so after some rather unsastifactorty (cheaper?) cast replacements, but still a draw.

So to say "it didn't find an audience the first time around" is not true at all.

RAGTIME had a weekly nut of $600 K ($550 K with royalty waivers) - So to meet that the show needed $64.2 million. The show grossed $79.7 million for its 107 week Broadway stay. That is a net operating profit of $15.5 million, which should have been more than enough to pay off. The fact that it didn't is still under investigation in the U.S. In Toronto earlier this year Drabinsky was found guilty of accounting fraud, moving profits from one show to cover losses of others - so where that $15 million went is anyone's guess.

SO even if Variety reports RAGTIME as a flop, it wasn't a flop due to its Broadway earning power.

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Updated On: 6/11/09 at 02:06 PM

Beyond excited for this show to come back!
I loved the original.

Possible casting:
Gavin Creel for Brother?
Stephanie J. Block for Mother?
Just my two cents.

NDR, there's no need to start hypothetical casting.

I'm sure a large majority of the cast from the Kennedy Center staging will transfer with the show, especially the principals (minus Manoel Felciano, who definitely won't be moving with it as he's taking up residency with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater.)

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Updated On: 6/11/09 at 03:17 PM

This totally makes my day...I'm beyond excited to see this production that I've heard such great things about.

Now all I need is a revival of City of Angels and I'll be a really happy camper.

Leigh Ann Larkin please.

The casting notice states that all roles are currently available...although that may not mean anything...

This is OUTSTANDING news! I saw the production in DC, and was blown away from the moment the curtain rose. Broadway needs more INTELLIGENT yet still entertaining musicals! This is going to be a huge hit.

Why would Stephanie Block and Gavin Creel leave high-grossing shows within months of opening for this?


If anyone from Kennedy Center stayed with the show, I would hope it would be Bobby Steggert. He was absolutely perfect in the role.

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Raul as Tateh would be perfect. I would love for that to happen.