Ragtime in Regent's Park - Page 2

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 2:30am

This production intrigues me, if only on a morbid curiosity level. I'm all for new and interesting takes on shows, but only when that take, well...works (and I am of the camp that thinks the Doyle Sweeney and Company worked, for the record). Ragtime is so rooted in the turn of the century that I really don't know how updating any piece of it could possibly work, especially with the interweaving of the fictional and the historical. How did they handle the figures like Evelyn Nesbit, Henry Ford, Booker T. Washington, Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, etc. in this production? I think that's what confuses/intrigues me the most because this show is SO specific in terms of time period.

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 6:35am

I loved it! Ragtime is one of my favorite musicals and while it was very different, and a bit worrying at first, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The idea of the production is a group of New Yorker's find an old Ragtime record and they act out the story. Yes Booker T. Washington is a woman (though still refereed to as Mr. Washington) and Grandfather is played by a black man. The rest of the historical characters are similar to how other productions have them (once they got back in time of course.. although Emma Goldman makes most of her entrances of a bike)

[DeNada]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 7:15am

We've talked about this quite a lot on the West End board if you fancy reading the thread there.

The concept is basically the same as the Into The Woods one - a father telling his son a story - except this time it's in post-apocalyptic America rather than someone's head. The idea isn't that well thought through but it doesn't really impact negatively on the text as a whole. The colour blind casting adds nothing but a bit of amusement/shock at a black man saying the N-word. I didn't notice anything actively offensive, though - to me as a Brit it was a cute idea to set a show about the American dream in a world where that dream has shattered, but it's never developed beyond that.

The difficulty with Ragtime for a British audience is that many of the figures featured mean very little to us as we don't generally study much American history (much like Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson having no significance to us at all). Figures like Booker T Washington and Emma Goldman (and particularly Evelyn Nesbit) aren't familiar to us in any way - I'll give you Houdini, though - so their portrayals don't "matter" to us?

The production has an outstanding Mother in Rosalie Craig (who is great in everything and on her way to well deserved stardom) and an excellent Emma Goldman in Tamsin Carroll. The men aren't as strong - when I saw it Harry Hepple's Younger Brother seemed devoid of passion entirely, and Coalhouse could barely sing the score which was hugely disappointing and hopefully down to illness or something similar - but Tateh was great despite a vocal hiccup or two.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 7:32am

This "concept" reminds me an awful lot of that Family Guy episode where Peter directed The King and I and set it in a post-apocalyptic Siam in the year 2015 AD after the ninth nuclear war.

Posted: 8/1/12 at 11:10am

I'd like to see Goth re-imagine this show: The show opens with Grandpa coming out and bitching for a few minutes. Then he sits down, puts some Scott Joplin on the Victrola and sits there listening and drinking lemonade.

The end.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:19pm

To be the ONLY insightful piece of their concept is Evelyn Nesbit being portrayed as a Kim Kardashian like character, pink track suit and all.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 1:56pm

Which IMO is an insult to the memory of Evelyn Nesbit.

[ajh]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 2:05pm

Just saw this and must say that the updating did not work for me at all. As an earlier poster said, Ragtime is set in a very specific historical context. Some of the decisions made here seemed downright perverse (a female Booker T Washington for example) and having the cast begin and end the show in hideous polyglot modern dress was confusing, distracting and ugly to look at, as was the mess of a junkheap set. Timothy Sheader messed about with Into The Woods, as can currently be seen in Central Park, but that piece isn't as historically hidebound so it mattered less. Here it's a disaster. What's wrong with him?? It's like he has a starting vision in his head and allows nothing to distract him from it even when the soource material has to be hammered out of shape to acommodate. On the upside, the score remains indestructible, the choral singing is good, there are some fine performances (Tamsin Carroll as Emma Goldman, John Marquez as Tateh, Katie Brayben as Evelyn Nesbit and, above all, Rosalie Craig's luminous, heartfelt turn as Mother); Coalhouse and Sarah are fatally miscast (he is physically slight, sings flat and in no way convinces as somebody who could inspire or seduce; she sings beautifully but lacks any vulnerability whatsoever). The original production and the OBCR reduced me to a tearful, but inspired mess; I was resolutely unmoved by this except for Ms Craig's stunning "Back To Before". Mostly, I came out flat and angry. Beginning to wonder if there's not a touch of emperor's new clothes about Sheader and will be reading the NY ITW reviews with interest.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 3:59pm

Shhhhhhhh. Don't let PJ see this thread.


Updated On: 8/1/12 at 03:59 PM