Ragtime

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:21am

I am listening to Ragtime right now and I just love the music so much it gives me goosebumps every time. I don't know where I am going with this> It's too late to be singing full voiced with it so I am diverting that energy into this thread instead. What is everyone's favorite parts in Ragtime's score?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:23am

The dance break in GETTIN' READY RAG
Audra humming in the beginning of "Your Daddy's Son"

I can't even single moments out - it's 100% brilliant.

[OneLastRefrain2]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:27am

ahh how about
"Mama she was frightened/ Crazy from the fright/Tears without no comfort/ Screams without no sound/ Only darkness and pain/ The anger and pain/ The blood and the pain/ I buried my heart in the ground/ in the ground/ when I buried you in the ground."

my fave. Ragtime is brilliant

[scotty]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:34am

'Wheels of a Dream' baby!

'Yes, the wheels are turning for us, girl.
And the times are starting to roll.
Any man can get where he wants to
If he's got some fire in his soul'
Updated On: 1/2/05 at 12:34 AM

[cturtle]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:36am

JOURNEY ON is the number that always gives me chills. multiple eargasms by the end of that number! i also LOVE to hear marin sing BACK TO BEFORE

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:36am

Well, my favorite songs are, "You're Daddy's Son," "Henry Ford," "Wheels of Dreams," "New Music," "Crime of the Century," and the opening song. It's such a great score!

[Plum]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:37am

Right now what leaps to mind is "New Music."

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:38am

I really can't pick, but I was listening to it in the car on the way home today and I had to skip the last three songs in Act 1 because the cd got scratched somehow. It was upsetting just because I find the entire show so great that to even skip three songs is torturous. It's like depriving an addict of their drug.

Updated On: 1/2/05 at 12:38 AM

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:41am

OneLastRefrain2 I agree with you 100% that is my favorite part and song in this musical. I also like the intro and conclusion where all the characters kinda talk about themselves. It puts me in mind of Titanic(I know????, but it does). Marin Mazie singing that second song with lyrics "what of the people who are left here at home" or something like that is pretty too.

[cturtle]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:49am

"what of the people who stay where they're put ... planted like flowers with roots underfoot ..." beautiful intro to JOURNEY ON

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:53am

that's it...good memory :)

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 1:00am

I agree plum, the major achievement in that score is "New Music." It's not only a perfect moment for the characters in the show, collecting all of their stories and propelling the action forward, it also contains the entire dramatic theme of the show, in a metaphor that explains the point of the musical in an exceptionally poetic manner. And that halting, Joplin-esque rag is irresistable. It almost makes you sit on the edge of your chair, waiting for the resolve.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 1:09am

I hadn't listened to New Music that closely and now I feel like I have insulted the beauty of the score by not noticing all that before. I won't make that mistake again.

The character that resounds most with me in the show is Younger Brother. I think it's just because I probably identify with him more than any other character in the show. I spent a lot of time searching for who I was and what I stood for in my life and now that I have found it I really identify with how he came to find himself in the show and how powerful that was for him.

Updated On: 1/2/05 at 01:09 AM

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 1:13am

What a beautiful score! I love the whole thing.

[Charactress!]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 2:30am

it's simply amazing! i love crime of the century.. soo fun and SUCH a GORGEOUS score.

[Razz77]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 2:35am

I love the end of Back To Before as interpreted by Julia Murney....sigh...

Anything instrumental in the show is incredible -- the orchestrations at the beginning of "Wheels of a Dream"...

Til We Reach That Day...

The Night That Goldman Spoke At Union Square

yeah its just a very very very good score.

[whimsical]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 2:41am

My university is putting this on next semester and auditions are in two weeks. I'm very excited.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 2:42am

I love RAGTIME. If I wasn't pore I'd get the other CD too, cuz' I really wanna hear "The Show Biz"... Houdini is my favorite character. Tateh too. I wish "Gliding" had a huge tag at the end there... it seems like it's beeing set up but then just goes into that "Shtetl Iz Amereke" music reprise or whatever... but, it's still my favorite song...

[Charactress!]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 2:44am

I LOVE "show biz" I wanna cry everytime I realize they cut it from the show.. why i ask you WHY!?

[jackson992]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 4:31am

I love all the songs but one of my favs is the one that the mother and Ta Ta(sp?) sing together. Can't remember the name of it offhand.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 5:16am

There's not a weak moment on that cast recording. But when introducing someone to the show, I always play WHAT A GAME first for some reason.

It's only a matter of time before this musical is finally rewritten for the big screen.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 5:19am

I was actually pondering today if it could work as a movie musical. I didn't get far in my musings before I was distracted by listening to the intricacies of the score though. That and I couldn't reconcile a way for the narration within the music to work on the screen.

Updated On: 1/2/05 at 05:19 AM

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 5:32am

You should search Google Groups for posts about Ragtime as a movie musical. There's been plenty of discussion on this topic over the years. But immediately after the musical's Broadway debut, the plan was to make a CBS miniseries based on the novel. EL Doctorow even approved the screenplay. The project was sidelined due to what else but budgeting.

I get the impression that Ahrens and Flaherty have the flexibility necessary to rewrite the score for the screen. Crime of the Century, Gettin' Ready Rag, Harry Houdini: Master Escapist, and Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc. could probably be adapted (and even improved upon visually) for the screen almost effortlessly, without changing the lyrics. The prologue and epilogue would have to be reworked entirely. On the other hand, the fact that one major character is a filmmaker, another has "visions" and a third is a pianist certainly lends to some great ideas for framing devices... Updated On: 1/2/05 at 05:32 AM

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 5:44am

I love The Showbiz too. It was cut because Houdini and Nesbit could tell virtually the same story more concisely in Atlantic City.

There were at least nine other stage musical versions of Ragtime written in the '90s. Doctorow hand-picked Ahrens and Flaherty's version for production.

[Therese]

Posted: 1/2/05 at 6:39am

Long-time lurker/first-time poster here. "Ragtime" is one of my all-time favorite shows/scores and "New Music" would have to get my vote as favorite song, although I love the whole score in general. The original pre-Bway CD is well worth having, in addition to the cast album; not only does it have "The Show-Biz," but the earlier version of "He Wanted To Say" is quite a bit different from the Bway version. The final version works better in the context of the show, but there are some things I really like about the earlier one. And I love "What a Game," but have always felt the version on the earlier CD sounds better, it seems to have a quicker tempo and more energy to it. Oh, and I'm guessing the "Mother-and-Tateh" song someone was thinking of earlier is "Our Children," when they are watching Edgar and Tateh's daughter play on the beach.