Hmm...it's interesting that Caroline, or Change and Ragtime seem to be the popular vote here, and they both had nothing marketable about to it ordinary people.
I wouldn't say that statement is true, regarding RAGTIME. It was a hit. The problem with it was that its cast was too large, they produced an equally large touring company (to the exact same scale as the Broadway production) when the show was still running on Broadway, and had a competing production of SHOW BOAT, all at the same time. That and the creative financing that went on, ruined the production company. The touring production was sold out at every performance.
scooter3843