Ragtime - back in 1999- Page 2

[jam_man]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 11:29am

AnnaK, you read Ragtime in 5th grade? Apart from the heavy prose, there's a fair amount of sex in the novel. Did you read it in a class or on your own?

And I remember part of the reason Ragtime closed (or more specifically, part of Livent's missmanagement) was that Drabinsky was taking some of Ragtime's grosses to pay for other projects. I think I remember reading a quote from Judy Kaye that 'If we only had to pay our bills, we would have stayed open longer.' I'm sure I butchered that one, but it was something like that.

Oh, and yes, Ragtime is amazing! If any of you live near or have lived near St. Louis, you'll agree that Heaven will be upon us when The Muny does Ragtime!!! When that week comes, I don't care where I am in the world, I'm flying back to STL to see it at least 3 times! Same thing is true if and when the NYCO does that production with the original team involved (especially if they bring Stokes and Audra back)!!!

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 11:36am

It was certainly a personal choice to read it in the 5th grade, not at all relating to my class. The sex didn't even bother me at that time because I didn't even know what sex was, so that whole scene with Younger Brother was literally just me reading words, not understanding them, and moving on.

Good times.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 2:29pm

I think one ofthe smartest things Terrence McNally did ion adapting ther novel was to treat the "real" (historical) characters as symbols, rather than three-dimensional people. Evelyn Nesbit symbolized our obsession with celebrity (Paris Hilton, anyone?), Houdini symbolized the immigrant "escaping" from oppression to find freedom, Emma Gol;dman symbolized the socialist movement, etc. Wherethe novel dug prety deep into these characters, the musical chose to concentrate on the fictional "three families" instead.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 2:34pm

Exactly Jon. Obviously, I didn't know Evelyn Nesbit, and as far as I know, there isn't a lot of information about her out there except for the basic facts. However, I really don't feel like the character of Evelyn in the novel makes much sense. But again, I didn't know her, I wasn't alive in that time, so who really knows.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 2:38pm

"Evelyn Nesbit symbolized our obsession with celebrity (Paris Hilton, anyone?), Houdini symbolized the immigrant "escaping" from oppression to find freedom, Emma Goldman symbolized the socialist movement, etc."

Evelyn Nesbit = Paris Hilton
Houdini = Borat
Emma Goldman = Rosie O'Donnell

[C is for Company]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 2:39pm

HAHA

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 2:52pm

I read "Ragtime" when I was a freshman in college, but don't remember anything about it.

[mallardo]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 3:56pm

Ragtime is a great novel - Doctorow's best. The show was a more than worthy version of it. The movie, alas, stunk.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 7/12/07 at 4:06pm

Yeah, that movie isn't even worth mentioning. I didn't not like Doctorow's other novels, but I tend not to love them.

[BroadwayBoy2]

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

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

Care to explain it more, for someone who saw this production "not live".

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 12:57am

"I think one ofthe smartest things Terrence McNally did ion adapting ther novel was to treat the "real" (historical) characters as symbols, rather than three-dimensional people."

R-I-G-H-T. God forbid the audience should have real characters with which they can identify. (Gee, maybe this is why RAGTIME is a flop--duh!!) As for this thread, I've never read such nonsense in my life. It's hilarious, really.


Evelyn "Who do I have to shoot to get off this swing--and out of this musical?" Nesbit
New York, NY

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 3:25am

Oh, I agree it SHOULD have won Best Musical though I fully expected all the other Tony Awards to land the way they did.

It's a crime that it lost to a show that is nowhere near as well-written. LION KING was for me visually stunning but pretty much was over in the first 5 minutes.

Having seen two excellent community stagings of RAGTIME in the past year prove to me - not that I had any doubt - that RAGTIME does not need all the elaborate scenery. In fact it works better with a spare, simple staging.

No one will ever say that about LION KING or PHANTOM or any of these other shows that are designed to dazzle with scenic effects.

I am curious about the break-even because Variety reported at the time that the $600k a week would be a tough nut. If your saying $500K it rarely dipped below that figure according to the grosses posted here.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 7:05am

The stereopticon:

Before the show, there was a GIANT (about 10 feet wide) replica of a stereopticon viewer hanging in front of a scrim. When the music started, the Little Boy entered and picked up a real stereopticon from the floor and looked through it. The giant stereopticon flew up, and onto the scrim was projected two side-by-side images of the opening tableau (the rich folk posing in front of the house) - like the two photos on a stereopticon slide. The two images moved together until they merged into one "three-dimentional" image at the center of the stage. The lights came up behind the scrim, revealing the actors in the tableau, then the scrim flew up.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 8:57am

I think the complaints about the show removing nearly all the sex from the book are perhaps warranted (weren't they in an earlier workshop version? I think there was at least a lyrical reference to the infamous masturbation scene) but otherwise I've never got the criticism some have on Ragtime...

I saw the second week of the run in Vancouver a bit before the Tonys--it was exciting to be able to see a show up for so many awards BEFORE the award show (living on the West Coast of Canada as a kid then that obviously had never happened before) and just how strong the cast was (I believe it was largely the LA cast--LaChanze was Sarah and Rubinstein was Tateh). One of my fave theatrical moments for sure

AnnaK at 10 you didn't know what sex was and "were just reading words"? wow... I never thought I had that crazy a childhood but by that age I certainly knew enough abotu sex to understand it in the novels I was reading...

[bwayjunkie78]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 6:23pm

I saw this show back in November of 1998, it was actually the first Broadway show I ever saw... I too was looking at the playbill (showbill) earlier this year, mainly because of my love for Spring Awakening and Lea Michele's connection to both shows. As for it's closing, and the possibliity of it reopening, I read earlier this year (unfortunately I forget where, but it was a reliable source, maybe the Lincoln Center site) that there were plans for a revival that unfortunately had to be postponed due to the openings of other shows, and budget issues.
I too have read the novel, but as a senior in high school, almost seven years after seeing the show...I knew that the content was somewhat different, but I appreciated it to its fullest.
I have seen a regional production of the show as well, and though it was good, nothing could ever compare to seeing the talents of Audra, Brian and Marin onstage at the same time (sadly, when I first saw the show, I not only didn't appreciate it for what it was, I didn't realize just who I was seeing live until years later). I remain a huge fan of all three of these individuals, and ragtime remains one of my top favorite shows of all time...

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/14/07 at 2:57am

Actually it was NYCO who had announced it for the spring of '08 but had to cancel and replace with CANDIDE (for the umpteenth time.) I think RAGTIME is pushed back a year to 2009.