Ragtime (1998)

 

This morning, I saw Audra McDonald on the Morning Show (thanks for the heads up, Mom!) and thought of this excellent musical.  Seussical was my gateway into the crack composing team Ahrens & Flaherty, but Ragtime is the “wow” show that got me excited to hear more from them.

 

Based on an E.L. Doctorow novel, Ragtime examines the changing world of 1906.  A white family from New Rochelle collides with the immigrant community in city tenements and the burgeoning black culture in Harlem.  The collision is by turns awkward, explosive, painful, and electric, and members of all three groups are shaped by their interactions with the other two.

 

There are many of compelling characters in this show; I’ll just touch on my favorites.  Coalhouse is a suave ragtime musician who won’t abide his treatment as a second-class citizen.  Mother is a safe suburban housewife who learns how much larger the world is than her cozy circle.  And Tateh is a determined Latvian father who bends the heavens to create a better life for his daughter.  These all sound pretty predictable for a piece about turn-of-the-century culture clash, and to an extent, there are.  However, Lynn Ahrens’s lyrics cut to the heart of these characters, laying them truly open for the audience to see.  Let’s look at them once more.

 

For Coalhouse, there’s the tragic anthem “Make Them Hear You”:  “And say to those who blame us / For the way we chose to fight / That sometimes there are battles / That are more than black or white… / And I could not put down my sword / When justice was my right. / Make them hear you.”  Mother has the quietly strong “Back to Before”:  “Back in the days / When everything seemed so much clearer. / Women in white / Who know what their lives held in store. / Where are they now, those women who stared from the mirror? / We can never go back to before.”  And finally, Tateh’s wistful “Journey On”:  “Do you see in my face / What you’ve lost, sir? / Are you moved by the death ship / We sail upon? / Well, perhaps you’re a man / Who’s in search of his heart. / Journey on.”

 

Ragtime is a splendid example of Stephen Flaherty’s talent for mixing modern Broadway and setting-appropriate music.  The ragtime songs are stylish and danceable, there are nice hints of eastern European flair, and as always for Ahrens and Flaherty, we get an amazing opening number.  The sprawling prologue is great – it introduces all the major characters, sets the stage for the central issues, and weaves in the disparate musical styles of the show to come.  Oh, and the lyrics?  “It was the music / Of something beginning, / An era exploding, / A century spinning / In riches and rags, / And in rhythm and rhyme. / The people called it Ragtime.”  Enough said.

 

The original Broadway recording has some stellar voices, including Marin Mazzie as Mother and Peter Friedman as Tateh.  However, the album belongs to Brian Stokes Mitchell as Coalhouse and Audra McDonald as his lover Sarah.  Their sublime singing is on an entirely different level – Mitchell’s rich baritone and McDonald’s crisp, gorgeous tones blend beautifully, putting the term “eargasm” into perspective.

 

Warnings

 

Some language (including racial slurs,) sexual content, and violence.