Ragtime in Regent's Park
Ragtime in Regent's Park
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#1Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:04am
I'm surprised no one has talked about this yet.
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americanboy99
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/06
#2Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:15amLooks so intriguing! Wonder how it'd play to an American audience.
#2Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:16am
I don't know how to feel about the video of this production. Some of it feels fresh and innovate. Then they have that costume which Evelyn wears, which is almost just like the one original production. Also I can't really get behind changing the costume era when the show has such deep roots in the turn of the century. If you were going for the turn of the 2000's yeah, but Obama would not be even thought about then. Aren't there years which are mentioned specifically in the script?
Updated On: 8/1/12 at 01:16 AM
#3Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:19amMust everything be re-imagined? I got really flustered after watching that clip.
"These rabid fans...possess the acting talent to portray the hooker...Linda Eder..." -The New York Times
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#4Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:20amI know that Booker T Washington is played by a woman and that Grandfather is black.
#5Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:22amThis is one show I've always wanted to see set in Space.
#6Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:29am
^ LMFAO!
Look, I'm all for new interpretations, etc. But since Tateh's arrival on Ellis Island did not include people holding up the McDonald's arches and a Coke bottle in the original stage direction, wouldn't this be in violation of the MTI/Dramatists Guild contract one signs when getting the rights to a show?
Grandfather is not described as a black man, nor is Booker T. Washington described as a woman. In fact, doesn't McNally's text in the opening number call Washington "a man?"
Maybe Lynn, Stephen and Terrence McNally love this production. More power to them. If I were the authors, though, I would cite this production as a prime example of "unwanted re-imaging."
#7Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:35amWhen Sarah is killed, I think it should be during the L.A. Riots and I think that Coalhouse's car should be the flying Delorean. Also when mother digs up the baby, it should be that Timothy Green kid who grows in the dirt.
#8Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:35amI'm so sick of shows being "reimagined," especially a show with a certain time frame. At least with Into The Wood it is not set at a specific time per se.
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
#9Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:36am
Do A&F know about this? I'm assuming they do, but if they don't, maybe I'll let them know about it. As a writer, it pisses me off to see directors do this to really wonderful shows.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#10Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:37amI feel like if I know about it, then they know about it.
#11Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:39am
Also, Tateh should be an illegal Mexican immigrant and this should be the Little Girl:
"These rabid fans...possess the acting talent to portray the hooker...Linda Eder..." -The New York Times
#12Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:40amThis just seems like such an odd show to "reimagine."
#13Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:40am
This was the most offensive evening I've spent in the theatre.
I'm all for provocative theatre, but this show was just plain offensive and in poor taste. At the end of the first act (I saw this in previews so this could have changed), the American flag was placed on the floor next to a newspaper with a 9/11 headline...but what did this have to do with Till We Reach That Day? Yes I understand the connection in a broad sense, but this show had no reason to be updated.
The show worked best when the characters wore period clothing and the concept wasn't in effect, which was primarily the second act. There was a white girl in the black chorus, who also happened to have the line calling someone a "Cracker".
In the program the director's note talked about how America needs to realize that Capitalism isn't the solution to every problem. This is all find and dandy if that's your belief, but then don't present a musical where one of the main characters becomes wealthy and famous from a capitalist system. Now I'm one of the most liberal people I know, but none of this made any sense.
Oh, and some of the casting was just plain awful. Sarah was painful to watch. The only outstanding person in the show, Mother, was just cast in the Finding Neverland musical, so good for her.
SUCH an awful production. If we staged something like this about England in Central park we'd never hear the end of it...
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
#14Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:40am
I know Lynn was very outspoken when a theater in Illinois canceled their production of RAGTIME, citing it as "too racist", a few years back. (The head of the theater thought SHOW BOAT would be a better choice. "n*s all work on de Mississippi...")
This is sort of different though.
#15Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:44amI spoke with a Production Assistant after the show, and they said that Stephen Flaherty had been there to see it, and while visibly shocked, told them he approved...shockingly.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
#16Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:48amStephen's just too nice of a guy. If it were a different, older, bearded Stephen...
#17Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:53amUh, not so sure about that JV. Sondheim approves some pretty f'ed up versions of his shows.
#18Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:55am
He wasn't too happy about Hofstra's re-write of MERRILY. Or the COMPANY where Bobby killed himself. Doyle may have done some weird things, but he didn't make Mrs. Lovett a transvestite or Joanne a lesbian.
#19Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:55amMrs. Lovett could be played by a man. I'd like to see that, actually.
#20Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:56am
I wouldn't, though. Please don't suggest it to him. Or at least wait till Angela Lansbury dies.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#22Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 2:00amAccording to Mr. Sondheim, they set the show backwards, beginning with 1957 and ending with 1980.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#23Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 2:01amOh, okay. That's kind of what I figured, but I wasn't sure. Thanks!
#24Ragtime in Regent's Park
Posted: 8/1/12 at 2:09am
Maybe I'd be the meanest show author of all time and grant no re-imagined productions the chance to be staged. Time will tell. But I think this production of RAGTIME changes the text. Whatever one wants to say about Doyle's Sondheim productions, they didn't change the text. And you are NOT allowed to change the text without the authors' approval.
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