Ragtime

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 8:54pm

Do you prefer the movie, musical, or novel? I prefer the musical because it's basically the book with Brian Stokes Mitchell and beautiful music.

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 9:25pm

Musical.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 9:30pm

I loved the musical and was fortunate to see it with the Original Broadway Cast.

[catsuit]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 9:32pm

Musical. I've now seen it twice in Boston. I'm now obsessed!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 9:54pm

I LOVE the musical, but I also love the novel (which I didn't read until after seeing the musical). Both are wonderful in their own right. I didn't like the movie at all.

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 9:57pm

Same here, the movie did nothing for me. The music of the movie as well.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 10:19pm

Musical first, although I read the novel before I saw the musical and loved that, too. I've never seen the movie.

[bwaymizfit]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 10:37pm

While I loved the book (and read it before I was TOO into the musical), the musical definitely wins my vote. As was posted above, the music is awesome, and BSM is just, well, amazing. His rendition of "Make Them Here You" is, IMO, one of the best vocal performances on CD ever. The song's only 2:10 (I wish it were longer), but he holds that last note out FOREVER. **sigh**

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 11:16pm

this is kind of an unfair question. I'm sure if you posted this on a literary message board the answer would be the novel.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 5/22/06 at 12:07am

Both the novel and the musical are fantastic. The musical follows the novel very closely so it actually does it justice unlike most novel to stage (or film) adaptations.

[iliketheater]

Posted: 5/22/06 at 12:40am

lol, well I'm going to have to agree with Jazzysuite82... given my personal entertainment prefrences I would say my oppinion's a bit bias...

but I'm sure you all know what my vote is

[tophertilson]

Posted: 5/22/06 at 8:36am

The novel, hands down. The musical has amazing things going for it (great score and the original production was stunning), but I always find the book cold and distant. The movie was a mess.

If someone really HAS to dramatize this story (and it's probably best left to the page), I think the best medium would be as an HBO mini-series.

TT

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/22/06 at 9:20am

They all work on their own levels quite well.

The film has some major things going for it: Randy Newman's exquisite score and Howard Rollins Jr.'s performance are both unforgettable. James Cagney and Elizabeth McGovern are pretty terrific as well. The book, because it is nearly all narrative, is able to cram so much more plot and information into it, and that helps to enrich the scope of the story even further.

And then there's the musical, which is destined to become a classic of the genre, IMO.

Posted: 5/22/06 at 4:52pm

I love both the movie and musical of RAGTIME. I've never read the book. In the movie, Howard Rollins, Jr. was fantastic as Coalhouse, and I believe it was Jimmy Cagney's last film. The entire cast of the movie was great, except I never liked Mary Steenburgen as the mother (when I saw the musical, Marin Mazzie was a welcomed relief). Mandy Patinkin was also in the movie.

[circusliz]

Posted: 5/22/06 at 5:01pm

I prefer both the novel (which I read as part of AP English in '9 and the musical (which my AP English class went to in '9.

FYI, one of the reasons the movie is of lesser quality than the book is that E.L. Doctorow, the author, wasn't consulted on the movie. After letting some of his objections be known early in the creative process, he was basically asked not to interfere.

Flash forward to the musical, where his input was constantly sought. Big difference, huh?