Rags as a Companion Piece to Fiddler?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 2:11am

Been reading Charles Strouse's bio, which is great, and fascinated by the notion of Rags being somewhat of a sequel, of course with new characters, to Fiddler...I've always been a fan of Rags but I'm seeing the show in a new light after going back to Fiddler and then listening to Rags again...It just feels that more brilliant.

Anyone think a Rags revival or revisal would work. I know Schwartz, who give his best lyrics here, in my opinion, has said he and Strouse have been working on a revised version.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 2:14am

I don't have anything to contribute really, but did you know there is a subtitle to Rags?

For the 1992 (or was it 1993?) Off-Broadway Revisal it was called-
Rags: Children of the Wind.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 2:17am

I love the subtitle. I also love the idea, of course not the outcome, that the hope of coming to America at the end of Fiddler is gone in Rags...So amazing.

[Jon]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 12:25pm

The script has been revised a few times. The "oficial" licensed version now available has David, the little boy, narrating the entire thing. It's an awful version which was done Off-Broadway with a tiny cast doing a ridiculous amount of doubling - including having Avram double as "Hamlet" in the Yiddish Theatre scene and having Saul and Nathan played by the same actor. In fact, Rachel, Bella and David were the only ones who didn't double.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 12:59pm

Yeah, I saw that production -- it was at Jewish Rep. But the score still glows -- one of my all-time favorites! I guess this must be one of those shows that weren't able to be born -- like Mack and Mabel and, to a lesser degree, Chess.

[Jon]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 1:44pm

My main problem with it is that the script reads like a Jr. High School American History lesson.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 7:03pm

I love a lot of the songs from Rags ("Wanting" being my particular favourite), but I feel like the storyline is all over the place, with some really unsatisfactory resolutions. And I have to agree with Jon as well.

I think that if the book was edited a lot, it could make a comeback. As for it being a "sequel" to Fiddler, that was what came into my head when I first heard a few of the songs!