Ragtime - back in 1999

[rayoflight104]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 12:40pm

I saw this show in November of 1999. I've been going through my playbills/showbills and to my suprise, I found that my Ragtime Playbill is not a Playbill and is instead a Showbill.. How could this be if I saw the show in November 1999?

Also, some of the actors like audra and brian are not listed. I don't have the showbill at this time, but were there other actors at this point in time in the show? November 1999?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 12:57pm

Ragtime opened in January of 1998, so by late 1999 Audra and Brian had left the show.

Ragtime was produced by Livent which in the middle of the Ragtime run ran into some financial misconduct. Ragtime was the first show to open the newly renovated Ford Center of the Performing Arts. I believe they chose to use Showbill to differentiate themselves from the old, stody "Broadway" that used Playbill.

Updated On: 7/11/07 at 12:57 PM

[Justin D]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 2:47pm

Doesn't Lion King still use Showbill?

[Jon]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 2:53pm

They used "Showbill" because Ford Motor Company had a financial interest in the show, and Playbill had advertisements by other automobile companies.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 3:05pm

Thanks, Jon. I always wondered why the programs were different.

By November 1999, I believe the cast featured Alton White as Coalhouse, Darlesia Cearcy as Sarah, Donna Bullock as Mother and John Dossett as Father.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 3:15pm

God... the way you say "back in 1999," it makes it seem like the Dark Ages.



*gets walker and turns up hearing aid*

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 3:16pm

Can someone explain to me definitively what the difference is between a Showbill and a Playbill?

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 3:18pm

It's a different company producing the magazine.

Disney was one of the first (I know of) to buck the system by NOT using Playbill to do their programs. Others have followed since.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 4:33pm

Can't someone bring Ragtime back??? now?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 4:37pm

"Can't someone bring Ragtime back??? now?"

It's one of those shows that should have been broadcast on PBS, like in the 1970s when PBS was filming all types of interesting shows with great actors.

[rayoflight104]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 5:14pm

sorry for saying it that way - atleast it wasn't "way back in..."

but i guess i could have just said "ragtime" and everyone would still know what i'm talking about..


So a "Showbill" does not mean that it is prior to a show's opening then? or does it? Seeing as how Ragtime and Mary Poppins (the two I have) are Showbills....
Updated On: 7/11/07 at 05:14 PM

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 8:57pm

I was just looking at my Ragtime Showbill the other day and noticed that Lea Michele was the young girl in it when I saw it in December 1998.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 9:12pm

"Ragtime" NEVER should have closed !!! (

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 10:43pm

So nice to see Ragtime threads not started by me, and I agree, I never should have closed. Also prob the biggest robb in the history of the tonys ever!

I really hope it comes back soon.

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 10:48pm

Oh, yes, it was clearly robbed of many Tonys.........Best Musical, Best Director, etc...

Don't hate me..........Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson clearly deserved their Tony awards for Best Actor and Actress in "Cabaret." What they did, in that show, was astonishing!!!

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 11:20pm

Never should have closed. To think Lion King is still open and this isn't...

Tragedy!

EDIT: Right after I posted this, the XM Broadway chanel started playing "Your Daddy's Son". One of my favorite melodies, and favorite stories about songwriting (Ahrens & Flaherty supposedly wrote it overnight) Updated On: 7/11/07 at 11:20 PM

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 11:41pm

Can't someone bring Ragtime back??? now?

I always had a dream that The Lion King would close, then Ragtime and The Lion King would be revived in the same year, and Ragtime would beat it at the Tonys. Redemption.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 3:10am

Technically advertisements are still up!

Walking down 53rd today, I noticed that one of the big posters must have been recently taken down (probably Company's) and underneath it in the empty space was a Ragtime poster! I took a picture of it. It can be fun seeing them up next to Avenue Q and other current shows. On 45th there once was a blank space that contained a Cabaret revival ad, as well as an original Les Mis one.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 4:09am

The collapse of RAGTIME had little to do with the Tony Awards.

It had more to do with the fact that it had an unusually high (for the time) break-even of $600 K (At the time most big shows broke even at $400-450K) which is why when Livent was bought out one of the first orders of business was to close the show that was hemorrhaging money.

Part of this was due to the instability of Livent and they simply were not buying as much advertising. You'll notice that in 1998 the show grossed $44 million (more than enough to cover it's $31 million operating cost.) In the latter half of 1999 things started to slip (possibly aided by some less-than-stellar cast replacements) and while it broke even for the year the last half of '99 had many weeks when it was bringing in far less than it cost. Still, it must have netted more than $13 million so it closd at a loss but not a huge loss. (It reportedly cost $13 million to open on Broadway.)

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 9:56am

I don't think anyone was saying it didn't run because of the Tony's. It actually ran significantly longer than Tony season. I think people here are just saying it should have won more. I saw Ragtime a host of times on tour but also a matinee followed by Kiss Me Kate...yeah if that doesn't make you want to go into this business, nothing will.

BTW I wasn't such a fan of Alan Cumming in Cabaret. I felt his Emcee wasn't androgenous, he was gay. I think it's more interesting if he's androgenous.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 10:21am

Absolutely no one has claimed the show closed because it didn't win at the Tonys. And while it did have a high running cost, it wasn't as high as you claim. (it was around $500K). However, its closing had more to do with the embezzlement going on by Livent founder Garth Drabinski, who cooked the books to give the show (and its predecesser shows) lower running costs and pocketed the difference. It was when an audit revealed this information that it was discovered what was really happening with the company. It had nothing to do with advertising. The whole company imploded and pretty much forced the show to close.

[JRybka]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 10:23am

Ragtime was brilliant! Today it still probably one of my top three favorite shows EVER!

I remember back in the day... they had auditioned composers to write the music for the show and received 3 songs from each composer. It would be interesting to hear the other visions that other people had. I have always wondered what Jason Robert Brown would have done with it....

Also-- does anyone remember when Alton White missed a show... It was huge news. He lived in Harlem and had just left his building and was going to the theater. There had been a robbery or shooting recently and he was picked up since he fit the description of the guilty party. He was not able to call the theater and no one knew where he was. Anyone else rememebr this?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 10:36am

Remember the stereoscope viewer that was part of the set? That was cool.

[JRybka]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 10:47am

I remember when Marin Mazzie hit the last notes of Back to Before you could hear a pin drop when she finished that last note cause people were so moved by her performace.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 11:02am

Ragtime's music is so beautiful. As much as I love Jason Robert Brown, he and every other composer can stay away because the music is so unebelievably perfect.

I just remember reading the novel for the first time in the 5th grade. To be honest, 6/7 years later I still don't understand the character of Evelyn Nesbit.The musical portrayal of her makes more sense. Actually, I think the musical version of RAGTIME is one of the only musicals that were/are better than their original novel.