Lea Michele Joins The Entertainment Community Fund's RAGTIME Benefit Concert

Lea Michele will make a special appearance in The Entertainment Community Fund's one-night-only benefit reunion concert of Ragtime. Michele originated the role of "Little Girl" in Ragtime on Broadway and currently stars as "Fanny Brice" in the record-breaking first-ever Broadway revival of Funny Girl.

As previously announced, the concert will take place on Monday, March 27, 2023 at the Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th St.). The event will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show's Broadway opening and will star original cast members including Emmy, Grammy and six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald ("Sarah"), two-time Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell ("Coalhouse Walker, Jr.") and SAG Award winner Peter Friedman ("Tateh"), with Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara ("Mother") in the role originally performed by the late Marin Mazzie.

In addition to a special appearance by Michele, the role of "Little Boy" will be played by Jack Casey, the role of "Little Girl" will be played by Addyson Evelyn Tabankin and the role of "Little Coalhouse" will be played by Kai Latorre. Jack Emmett Baumrind will be the standby for "Little Boy".

"At this 25th anniversary celebration, we're thrilled to welcome and pass the baton to the next generation of our Ragtime family: Jack, Addyson, Kai and Jack. Having Lea join us-just a child herself in the Original Broadway Company-makes this evening all the more poignant," shared lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty.

Additional cast members include Mark Aldrich, Shaun Amyot, John D. Baker, Darlene Bel Grayson, Dara Paige Bloomfield, Sandra M. Bonitto, Mark Cassius, Jamie Chandler-Torns, Albert Christmas, Jim Corti, Pierce Cravens, Larry Daggett, Bernard Dotson, Roberta Duchak, Donna Dunmire, Adam Dyer, Duane Martin Foster, Patty Goble, Elisa Heinsohn, David Hess, Adam Hunter, Mark Jacoby, Anne Kanengeiser, Mary Sharon Komarek (Dziedzic), Joe Langworth, Joe Locarro, Dan Manning, Michael X. Martin, Mary McCandless, Allyson Tucker Mitchell, Anne L. Nathan, Lynnette Perry, Orgena Rose, Gordon Stanley, Steven Sutcliffe, Keith Thomas, Todd Thurston, Vanessa Townsell-Crisp, Rema Webb, Leon Williams, Bruce Winant and Eric Jordan Young. All proceeds from this one-night only benefit concert will support the Entertainment Community Fund.

Based on the classic American novel by E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime has a book by Terrence McNally (Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!) and a score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once On This Island, Anastasia, Seussical). The evening will be directed by Stafford Arima, with James Moore as music director and conductor. On the original Broadway production, Mr. Arima served as associate resident director, David Loud as musical director and conductor and Mr. Moore as associate conductor. Additional credits for the one-night-only evening include Wendall K. Harrington and Shawn Boyle as projections designers, Peter Hylenski as sound designer, Don Holder as lighting designer, Tracy Christensen as costume designer and casting by Mungioli Theatricals, INC., Arnold J. Mungioli, CSA. This evening is executive produced by Robert Pullen of Nouveau Productions.

The original Broadway production of Ragtime opened on January 18, 1998, at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now the Lyric Theatre) and played for 834 performances. The show received 14 Tony Award nominations and won for Best Book of a Musical (Terrence McNally), Best Original Score (Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Audra McDonald) and Best Orchestrations (William David Brohn).

The Fund is grateful to the following sponsors for their support of this one-night-only concert reunion: The Nederlander Organization, Ford Foundation, Art Lab, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Iris Smith, Adrienne Arsht, Bloomberg Philanthropies and ExxonMobil.

The performance is currently sold out. Limited sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Douglas Ramirez at dramirez@entertainmentcommunity.org or 917.281.5921. For ticket holders who have retained tickets originally purchased in 2020, visit entertainmentcommunity.org/Ragtime for more information.

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