Ragtime 1996 vs. 1998

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 1:09am

So I bought the 1996 version a long time ago and didn't realize it wasn't the Broadway cast recording. Is there a big difference between the two? Do I need both? Thanks!

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 1:23am

Think of the 1996 recording as the "highlights" version to the 1998 OBCR. The cast is pretty much the same. Instead of "Showbiz" on the 1996 recording, there is "Atlantic City" in the OBCR, and I believe other than that, all of the songs on the highlights version is also on the OBCR, except for some verse changes, etc.

If you end up loving the 1996 recording, I suggest you get the OBCR 2-disc version. However, I haven't met any person who doesn't love Ragtime so I'm sure you'll end up buying the 1998 recording.

On the other hand, if you have the 1998 recording, I see no reason in buying the 1996 recording.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 2:14am

The 1998 OBC version is basicaly the complete show and definitely essential. I really like the 1996 Toronto version as a highlights recording, though, and it has some differences (it includes "The Show Biz" and a slightly different versions of "He Wanted to Say" and, I believe, "Make Them Hear You"). "Ragtime" on the Toronto recording is much abridged.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 2:21am

One thing the 1996 Toronto cast recording has going for it is the phenomenal Mary Bond Davis leading the company in "Till We Reach That Day."

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 2:49am

I love "The Show Biz"! I wish they'd kept it, but I don't think I could part with "Atlantic City" so it's a toss up. I think they made the right choice.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 3:21am

Two tracks from the Toronto cast album (New Music & Your Daddy's Son) were recycled onto the Braodway set. The rest were all re-recorded.

The Toronto recording (recorded 5 months before the show began previews) was intended as a highlights recording. The fact that so little changed in rehearsals shows just how well thought out this show was.

"The Show Biz" was replaced in previews by "I have a feeling." By the time RAGTIME got to New York the Houdini/Nesbit segment had been reworked into "Atlantic City" although that song was never a replacement for the earlier number. It was always in the show - just not on the Toronto cast recording.

The Broadway recording is more complete and has as a bonus the wonderful 8-minute symphonic suite based on themes from the (played by the Toronto theatre orchestra.) There are some sequenecs like "He Wanted to Say" which I prefer on the Toronto recording.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 3:55am

I prefer the Toronto version of "He Wanted to Say," too, although they're both wonderful. The Toronto lyrics are chilling:

"We are comrades in the struggle that goes on across the earth
Comrades in this struggle, brothers!
We must fight for all we're worth
With dynamite and wire, and sheer desire
We'll light the heavens, and show the bastards
Fire in the sky." Updated On: 4/23/09 at 03:55 AM

[ratherbewhaling]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 5:02am

I don't have the Toronto cd but just looked at the track listing and found no "Sarah Brown Eyes" (!) so yes I would say you have to get the other one, that one song is worth it. *or at least buy it off of itunes or something.

Updated On: 4/23/09 at 05:02 AM

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 6:30am

I love the Toronto version of "Henry Ford," especially the HUGE vibrato on "speed up the BEEEEEELT!"

[devonian.t]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 10:13am

Wow, I thought it was one of my own personal foibles to prefer those bits of the Toronto recording, too!

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 10:34am

There's also one major cast change from Toronto to Broadway. Judy Kaye joined in NYC as Emma Goldman.

[atlsuperstar]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:09am

I love the Toronto recording...I always thought it was interesting that Heather Headley was Audra's understudy!

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 12:34pm

I'll end up getting the Broadway Cast Album. I know myself.