the people called it Ragtime...

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:08pm

I just saw my schools production, and I had forgotten I loved this show!! I was in it almost 8 years ago as the Little Girl, and had fun but Ragtime was never one of my top favorites. I guess things change with age because I really do think it's a fabulous show!! Not to brag, but I thought our cast was top-notch (wickedrentq can vouch for that - she came with me!) and I was glad we did this show, even though I was not cast =(

One thing I never understood - how did the little boy Edgar know about the Duke?? That part always confused me.

Updated On: 3/4/07 at 02:08 PM

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:36pm

There are several allusions in the script to the boy being some sort of psychic (I wonder if he hangs out with Walt from Lost).

And yes...its is a fabulous show, I would dare say a modern classic already. It has proven to hold up both with lavish technical elements and with bare stagings.

Akiva

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:37pm

I always thought that Edgar was based on Edgar Casey.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:38pm

cough***revival***cough

[Popular]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:39pm

Don't cough that - speak that outloud! That would be AWESOME, I LOVE that show!

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:39pm

A friend and I are of the idea that, had the direction been better, the show easily could have been our generations "Show Boat"

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:40pm

:) If only! But would there be a revival soon if the opera's already doing a production?

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:47pm

Yeah, the boy also said "we know them!" the first time he sees Tate and the Little Girl, and when his other says no, they don't know them, he responds "but we will!" and sure enough...

Very interesting. Who was Edgar Casey?

It is my new personal mission to get this show revived. I'm taking donations! =D

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:51pm

I need a revival!!!!

[Julian2]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:55pm

"Edgar Cayce (March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) (pronounced /'keɪsiː/ or like 'Casey') was an American who claimed psychic abilities. He claimed an ability to channel answers to questions on subjects such as health, astrology, reincarnation, and Atlantis while in trance. Although Cayce lived before the emergence of the New Age movement, he remains a major influence on its teachings."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Casey

The only problem is he's the wrong age, but I don't know how correct the book/show is when it comes to the celebrities, etc.

[whatever2]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 2:59pm

city opera is presenting ragtime for two weeks in april 2008? does this not count as a revival?

it's been very well documented on these boards, and easily found with the "search" feature ...

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 3:19pm

I don't remember Edgar Cayce being in the book...however, there is SO much that he could have easily been overlooked.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 3:47pm

broadway revival...but i'll take the city opera one

[iliketheater]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 3:58pm

I want a Broadway revival, and I want it to win the Tony for Best Revival, and I want it to run for years.

I sound like a child but I don't care, I'm in love with this show.

[Dover]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 4:03pm

I saw the show on Broadway and enjoyed it, but it wasn't one of my all-time favorites. When it was being done at NYU a few years ago, I only went to see it because a couple friends from work were in it. I was shocked at how moving I found it, when it was presented with much more minimalist staging. I think the Broadway production got cluttered up with trying to create something spectacular on a giant scale (the huge stereoscope, the big Houdini number and all that), and it just wound up being a distraction from a story that is very human.

I also found it interesting that I saw the Broadway production right after it opened, from a 2nd row orchestra seat, and it didn't move me that much. I was way in the back of the balcony at NYU, but I was much more drawn into the story and really felt for all the characters. IMO, that says a lot about how the Bway production failed to make the show intimate enough, even under the most ideal conditions.

[tazber]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 4:13pm

I don't think the little boy was supposed to be Cacey, but just an allusion to the man.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 4:55pm

Um... Edgar is E.L. Doctorow - the author of the novel RAGTIME. Of course, he isn't old enough to have actually lived the time of the novel. I believe he was born in the mid-1920's. The set piece depicting the exterior of the house in the original production is a photo of his boyhood home in New Rochelle.

By the way, Docotrow's new novel is set during the Civil War, and one of the characters is Coalhouse Walker SENIOR.


Updated On: 3/4/07 at 04:55 PM

[B3TA07]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 5:51pm

I have this idea that "Back To Before" should begin as it does, but move to other characters and become an ensemble number about...never going back to before. I feel like just focusing on Mother at that point leaves the moment with unrealized potential.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 5:54pm

In a production that I saw, the ensemble joined her on stage for that number.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 5:54pm

A Broadway revival would lose just as much money as the original production did.

NYCO has the right idea with a 5-7 day staging.

[MovieGuy1031]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 5:57pm

I recently got the 1996 Cast (Toronto/Concept) Recording of this show, and I have become absolutely addicted. It was weird, I got out of my car and had Ragtime playing, got online, and this was the first thread to appear.

Anyhow, how long did the original production run and which theatre? Was it a complete failure? And do people generally consider the fact that it was SO. HUGE. the main reason that it failed?

Updated On: 3/4/07 at 05:57 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 5:59pm

It played the Ford Center for a little over 2 years.

The show was just too big to be a financial success.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 6:09pm

I saw the show at the Paper Mill a few years ago, and I agree with whoever said minimalistic staging helps, some how the show was just more touching.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 6:09pm

Defyingravity11, was that by any chance at LaGuardia Arts HS?

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 3/4/07 at 6:35pm

Nope, it was a TYTE production.