Ragtime - back in 1999

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?

Doesn't Lion King still use Showbill?

---

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.

---

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

---

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

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

"Ragtime" NEVER should have closed !!! (

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!!!

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.

---

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.)

---

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.

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

---

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.

---