Today marks the 20th Anniversary of one of the most beloved shows to have opened on Broadway… Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally’s legendary musical RAGTIME on Broadway. The show is based of off a best selling 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow.

RAGTIME tells the story of America during the turn of the century following 3 groups (African Americans, Upper class Suburbanites, and Eastern European Immigrants). The score features a mix of music from that time era including marches, cakewalks, gospel and of course ragtime.

The original production premiered in Toronto back in 1996 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts before moving on a month later to Broadway which it opened the newly built Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now the Lyric Theatre) for 861 performances. Members of the original cast included….

Alex Strange as “Edgar, The Little Boy”,
Marin Mazzie as “Mother”,
Peter Friedman as “Tateh”,
Audra McDonald as “Sarah”,
Brian Stokes Mitchell as “Coalhouse Walker, Jr”,
Lea Michele as “The Little Girl”,
and Judy Kaye as “Emma Goldman”.

The original production of RAGTIME was nominated for 13 Tony Awards in 1998 winning 4 for Best Score (for Flaherty & Ahrens), Best Book (for McNally), Best Featured Actress in A Musical (for McDonald), and Best Orchestrations (for William David Brohn).

Following the success of the original production, the show went on to become a worldwide hit musical from Regional productions, London’s West End, and several concert productions (including a concert production on Ellis Island back in 2016).

The 1st and most recent Broadway revival of RAGTIME happened in 2009 at the Neil Simon Theatre playing for only 93 performances. Members of that 2009 cast included…

Christopher Cox as “Edgar, The Little Boy”,
Christiane Noll as “Mother”,
Ron Bohmer as “Father”,
Robert Petkoff as “Tateh”,
Quentin Earl Darrington as “Coalhouse Walker, Jr”,
Stephanie Jean Umoh as “Sarah”,
Sarah Rosenthal as “The Little Girl”,
Donna Migliaccio as “Emma Goldman”.

The revival was nominated for 6 Tony Awards in 2010 (including Best Revival of a Musical) but lost all of it’s categories.

Happy 20th Anniversary RAGTIME! This show is truly the WHEELS OF A DREAM.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Broadway opening of “Ragtime,” three press reels: 1) the 1996 world premiere production in Toronto (with two things t…

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Author: NYBroadwayTours