![]() ![]() The production was directed by Tony winner Frank Galati with choreography by Graciela Daniele. Ragtime underwent a two-year gestation under the auspices of Garth Drabinsky, opening in Toronto in December 1996 and then in Los Angeles in June 1997 before arriving on Broadway. Doctorow, Ragtime has a score by Ahrens and Flaherty ( Once On This Island, Anastasia, Seussical) and a book by Terrence McNally ( Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!). READING: Track-by-Track Breakdown: Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty Dissect Their Ragtime Scoreīased on the classic American novel by E.L. “Fortunately, and unfortunately … Ragtime is needed. “ Ragtime was before its time, ahead of its time, and right on time,” Mitchell tells Lyons in the interview for this release. performances in Los Angeles in the summer of 1997. Also included: a new interview with the production’s original Coalhouse Walker, Brian Stokes Mitchell, conducted Douglas Lyons, who recently performed the role himself, plus photos from the original recording session and production.Ī Grammy nominee in its original release, these LPs come prior to the 25th anniversary of the musical’s first U.S. An oversized, 20-page booklet includes a new essay from Ahrens and Flaherty, a complete recording libretto, and a track-by-track appreciation of the score by the composer and lyricist. The remastered 3-LP set is presented in a hardbound slipcase, with individually jacketed LPs in red, white, and blue. Brian Stokes Mitchell remains a standout in the cast but, among the improvements, the creators have found more for Audra McDonald to do (a neat trick, since her character is killed off at the end of Act I), and she too is impressive.The original Broadway cast recording of the 1998 Tony-nominated musical Ragtime-featuring a Tony-winning score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens-is celebrated in a commemorative red, white, and blue collectors limited vinyl edition, available now from Masterworks Broadway. The result is a tapestry that fulfills Doctorow's intentions admirably and competes successfully with the large-scale musicals of the 1980s that always seemed to come over from Europe. Flaherty's music, relying heavily on ragtime itself and other early 20th century popular styles, unifies the stories, and Ahrens' lyrics bring out the similarities of theme among them. at the turn of the 19th century, and the earlier disc seemed scattered, while the full-length version brings all the strains together. Doctorow's plot embraces both several dramatic stories and a group of historical figures for an extensive examination of social life in the U.S. A major difference, of course, is sheer length - the Broadway version, on two CDs running more than two hours, is twice as long - but that's an important distinction for a show as ambitious and broadly based as Ragtime. ![]() One need only compare the 1998 original Broadway cast album to the 1996 studio cast album (called Songs From Ragtime the Musical) to see the differences, as the later version is much refined and improved. Doctorow's novel Ragtime took a long time to get to Broadway, with full-scale productions in Toronto and Los Angeles dating back more than a year before the New York opening, and they used that time well. Composer Stephen Flaherty, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, and librettist Terrence McNally's stage musical adaptation of E.L. ![]()
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