ragtime cast...
ragtime cast...
ragtime cast...#0
Posted: 7/22/05 at 11:55am
i know that we just did a movie cast, but how about a dream cast of theatre people? i would like to see a concert staging of this show brought about soon... so who, out of anyone in the theatre would you like to see take on the roles for a concert... base your choices on the voices you would like to hear in the cast as a concert! my submissions:
coalhouse - norm lewis
mother - rachel york
tateh - michael cerveris
father - matthew broderick
sarah - anika noni rose
younger brother - neil patrick harris
grandfather - john lithgow
little boy - harrison chad
little girl - molly ephraim
emma goldman - victoria clark
evelyn nesbit - sutton foster
harry houdini - hunter foster
henry ford - joel grey
j.p. morgan - james naughton
booker t. washington - ben vereen
sarah's friend - kecia lewis
willie conklin - christian borle
thoughts???
re: ragtime cast...#3
Posted: 7/22/05 at 12:02pm
As much as I like Sutton Foster, I don't think she has the right quality to play Nesbit.
re: ragtime cast...#4
Posted: 7/22/05 at 12:51pmThis is going to be fairly obvious, but I'd much rather see Stokes and Audra in thier respective roles, though I hear Norm Lewis is great, and Anika Noni Rose is an intreresting idea. Overall, bot bad, but I'd like to see Lithgow as Father, and I don't see Matthew Broderick as Father (maybe he would have made a good Younger Brothera few years ago). And while I LOVED Christian Borle in Spamalot, and I'd like to see him in something dramatic, I'd just don't see him as Willie Conklin. I can't think of anyone else, though.
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
re: ragtime cast...#5
Posted: 7/22/05 at 1:11pmhmmm, well while stokes and audra deserve all their praise, they are ready to let go of these characters and i'd like to see some new takes on them... and as to the comment of anyone other than audra as sarah is herecy, i disagree... there are other people who can play the part.. in fact, audra was simply a last minute replacement when lachanze got pregnant... lachanze had done every workshop and production pre-broadway, a&f wrote the role for her.. and i saw her play the role and she was beyond breathtaking. to say that audra is the only actress that can play the role is absurd (though she is fabulous and deserved her tony all the way...)
re: ragtime cast...#6
Posted: 7/22/05 at 1:29pm
While Sarah, I beleive, was originally written for LaChanze, she didn't do "every workshop and production pre-broadway." If for no other reason or proof, Aurdra sang Sarah on the 1996 Toronto cast recording, Songs from Ragtime, which is almost like a concept album, only they were doing a production in Toronto at the time. It's a nice CD, with some extended versions of some songs ("He Wanted to Say," "Make Them Hear You," etc.), and even a song that was cut, "The Show Biz," sang by Houdini and Evelyn Nesbit in place of their Atlantic City part. In fact, they didn't even record "Your Daddy's Son" for the Broadway recording - they simply used Audra's recording from the Toronto recording, since that was the only song that hadn't changed actors or had any revisions to it. The same is true for about half of "New Music," though the Toronto cast had a different Mother and Father. Stokes, Aurdra, and Stephen Suttclif(sp?) as Younger Brother were also in the Toronto recording.
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
re: ragtime cast...#7
Posted: 7/22/05 at 1:45pm
And no, it's not "herecy" to not have Audra (or Stokes, for that mater), but to have a DREAM CAST CONCERT without them almost voids it from the title of DREAM CAST. Doing that would be like if they had had the Les Miz Dream Cast without Colm Wilkinson and Micheal Ball. Yes, others have, will, and should play Valjean and Marius, but NEVER in a "Dream Cast" setting.
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/04
re: ragtime cast...#8
Posted: 7/22/05 at 2:13pm
I DID Ragtime with Norm...and I thought he was FAB-U-LOUS. Perfect for the role.
Julia Murney played Mother and she was equally FABOO.
And Michael Rupert played Tateh...and he was just dreamy and perfect.
I sound like a teenager in the 50's talking about my favorite band.
Anyway...keep dreaming- you might see those folks popping up in the roles around the country. Mother's Younger Brother is SO MY ROLE...not Mr. Harris. Thank you.
re: ragtime cast...#9
Posted: 7/22/05 at 6:03pmjam man, you're right... i have that cd and just forgot about it... audra did play the role in toronto... good call. but i don't know, i could see other people i would want in a dream cast...
Swing Joined: 6/10/04
re: ragtime cast...#10
Posted: 7/22/05 at 6:39pm
Marin Mazzie and Mark Jacoby were in the Toronto cast as Mother and Father and can be heard on the recording. The only main cast member who did not reprise their Toronto role on Broadway was Camille Saviola, who was replaced by Judy Kaye as Emma Goldman on Broadway.
Updated On: 7/22/05 at 06:39 PM
re: ragtime cast...#11
Posted: 7/22/05 at 9:26pmI thought La Chanze was excellent as Sarah, though I would have liked to have seen Audra.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/9/04
re: ragtime cast...#12
Posted: 7/23/05 at 12:24amJane Krakowski needs to be Nesbit.
re: ragtime cast...#13
Posted: 7/23/05 at 4:13am
I wonder if RAGTIME could be done by some of the opera companies that cross over into musical theatre.
When CD's were new there was a rash of "Opera cast" recordings of famous musicals. Some were really REALLY bad: SOUTH PACIFIC with Jose Carreras - a tenor - singing DeBeque, a bass role, and Kiri te Kanawa being her usual annoying self. There were also "crossover" albums of CAROUSEL, WEST SIDE STORY and MAGDALENA. Most of these turned up quickly in used CD stores.
But the idea has merit IF the shows are chosen properly and if the casting is done correctly.
I think RAGTIME would work in an opera house. So would LES MIZ. PASSION is essentially a chamber opera.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
re: ragtime cast...#14
Posted: 7/23/05 at 12:18pmyou are absolutely right. and i think it would work... renee flemming and bryn terrfl (spelling?) have a recording of wheels of a dream on their duets cd.
re: ragtime cast...#15
Posted: 7/23/05 at 12:44pmOut of the opera world, I would most like to see Dawn Upshaw in some kind of musical theater role. She has a fairly light voice that wouldn't overpower this sort of music and can really act a song as well as sing it.
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