2009 Ragtime Revival

[a-mad]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 6:06pm

One of my biggest regrets is not getting to the short-lived 2009 revival of Ragtime, which I loved when I saw it on Broadway in the late 90's (and on tour/regional productions since).

Anyone who was able to see it - what were your thoughts? What were some of the strengths/weaknesses compared to the OBC... and ultimately was it the weekly running cost that doomed it, or poor attendance (or both...) even after receiving good notices. I was devastated to hear of its early closure - its such a damn good musical that deserved a longer run (and a Best Musical Tony).

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 6:11pm

The attendance was not very good. It averaged 67.43%. The cast had absolutely zero name appeal, not saying it needed it, but it didn't help. It also opened a few weeks before the NIGHT MUSIC revival which had big star power and was nearly sold out for many weeks.



Updated On: 7/3/13 at 06:11 PM

[onedaymore]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 6:23pm

The show stand-alone was strong. The cast wasn't, however. Could have used some bigger names, which is what was its biggest downfall and I think a wake-up call for producers out there to not make the same mistake from then on out. What does well on other stages never guarantees success on Broadway (prime example: recent JCS revival). I don't think we were ready for a Ragtime revival just yet. In this age, I feel like Broadway-goers are looking for something to take their whole family to, and that story is very mature. If we were ready, that show didn't do much to make a name for itself on Broadway. With it's already lackluster cast, the staging was bare and uninteresting, especially to the masses. Basically, I think the show was "meh" at best.
(Though after it closed, I also saw Quentin Darringtondo it at the Drury Lane, in which I thought was actually better than Broadway in my humble opinion)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 7:42pm

I never got to see the original (which I still regret). I loved the cast. Christianne Knoll, Bobby Steggart and Robert Petkoff all won my heart.

I thought the simple staging was stunning. I RAN back to catch it a second time once it announced closing.

[brdwybound04]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 7:52pm

easy question to answer: Timing!!! It was foolish to open this show in Sept/Oct thinking that this could make it to The June TONYs regardless of how many nominations/awards it garnered... I have a feeling had they been more statue fix with their opening, as in had they opened in March and then coasted on their 10 noms and likely wins they could have a great run through the end of the year at least. Lastly it was much worse expnomically for people in fall 09, and many people in the theatre and in Times Square and on the subways wanted to be uplifted when they were shelling out $140 ticket, I think these were major reasons as for its short lived run.

I was fortunate enough to see the revival and it was visually stunning and gorgeous! Also last year I was very lucky to be cast in a local professional production that utilized the 2010 minimalist approach! I just wish they would have preserved the revival on a cast recording, the new orchestrations were stunning!!!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 7:54pm

Knoll and Steggart were wonderful, the rest of the cast, not so much. And I disagree the lovely Dramamama, I think the show calls for a big beautiful design, like the subject. It looked cheap to me and that metal car frame was god-awful.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 8:29pm

I always point to this as the best show I've ever seen. Just gorgeous. I think Ragtime works as an elaborate set/costume show, but the score is great enough that the simple production values were just as effective.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 9:26pm

What was "gorgeous" about it? The set was a metal bridge, used rather poorly and the costumes looked borrowed from another production, oh wait, they were. The recent Lincoln Center concert was 100% better with no scenery or costumes at all.

The material is very strong but that revival looked (and sometimes sounded) flat. If this was the best you've ever seen Glinda you need to get out more.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 9:26pm

Wait! I thought people were in love with the staging, the cast, the set, etc. Is this just hindsight after the buzz wore away?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 9:57pm

The production, staging, cast were all excellent - and this from someone who attended the opening in Toronto in December 1996.

Special praise to Christiane Knoll who made some fascinating (and very effective) acting choices as Mother not copying Marin Mazzie or any of those who preceded her.

What went wrong? I have no answer. The reviews were very strong, there was excellent word f mouth from the first previews. At the performance I attended you could feel the audience loving it more and more with each scene. The ovation at the final curtain was tremendous. Maybe it was too soon after the original closed but audiences were just not showing up. The same thing happened that fall with an excellent revival of FINIAN'S RAINBOW. Not enough ticket sales to keep it going through the winter.

In both cases the audiences failed the shows..the shows did not fail the audiences.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 10:38pm

Ragtime is one of my favorite musicals of all-time. I was thrilled when this was announced as coming to Broadway. I was at the first preview, and that long ovation when the curtain first went up was thrilling.

So...what went wrong? A lot of things.

For starters, the two lovers had absolutely ZERO chemistry. None. Nothing. Quentin Earl Darrington and Stephanie Umoh were so god awful. It was embarrassing and both were giving regional theater level performances. And of course, when compared (inevitably, to those of us who saw the original) to Stokes and Audra...well, there was no comparison. Sarah felt like such a secondary character in this revival. To think that Audra won a Tony for that role. And with Darrington...the fact that Norm Lewis was openly campaigning for the role in the revival, and they opted for Darrington? Foolish, foolish, foolish.

What was interesting about the Coalhouse/ Sarah story being pushed to the background is that this Ragtime felt very much like Mother's show, and that was its strongest asset: the performances of Christianne Noll and Bobby Steggert (who should have won the Tony). Those two were dynamite.

There were some other bright spots in the cast (Ron Bohmer was excellent), but for the most part the casting was not as strong as the original production, which featured a Tony winner playing a small role like Emma Goldman. I still remember how wonderful Judy Kaye was and how haunting her He Wanted to Say was. I can't even remember the name of the woman who played the role in the revival.

It was a foolish idea to open a revival like this in November. The show should have opened in the spring during awards season, when it could have built on the positive word of mouth it was receiving. I blame that on poor producing.

The other strike against the show is that Brantley hated it in 1998, and of course he was going to hate it in 2009. They had no chance of getting a good review from the Times unless Isherwood took it.



Updated On: 7/4/13 at 10:38 PM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 11:19pm

I agree with pretty much everything you said adamgreer. They should have waited to open this show in the spring. The only weakness in the cast was Umoh's Sarah. Loved so much about this show and felt it was stronger than the original production. One of my top 5 favorites.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 11:43pm

I know it's unfair to compare revivals with the originals but in this case, I loved the original so much, I just couldn't get into the revival. I didn't care at all for the new sets and the cast though not terrible was just blah for the most part (and yes Zero chemistry with each other and with the audience). I still remember so many chilling performances from the original while the later cast was easily forgettable. Even the beautiful book and music couldn't save it for me.

The reading they did of Ragtime at Lincoln Center this past February was fabulous and the idea that they only did it for one night and didn't record it was just nuts.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/4/13 at 11:40am

The only complaint I had about this production was when it opened. I think had it opened in the spring it would have fared better.

That being said, I loved it. I thought Christianne Noll brought so much to the role of Mother. I also enjoyed Quentin Earl Darrington's performance as Coalhouse.

I had seen both the original production and the revival numerous times. Both had their strong points. I didn't mind the scaled-down set of the revival either.

Ragtime is also my all-time favorite show and I was disappointed that the revival closed so quickly. I was there for the first preview and final performance.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/4/13 at 11:54am

Interesting observation on my own part with this and the South Pacific thread -- I've called both of these shows amongst my absolute favorites. I'd also put The Scottsboro Boys and Cabaret on that list.

Wow...I really am a democrat, aren't I?

CPD -- I still love you, even if you didn't see the beauty the same way I did!

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/4/13 at 12:46pm

I get out enough, CPD. My tastes differ from yours, that's all. The thing I remember most about the show was the way the back wall went flying open to reveal the sky at the beginning of Atlantic City. Breathtaking. And I thought the set worked wonderfully. It did a fine job of suggesting the cramped tenements, the Atlantic City boardwalk, Henry Ford's factory, the ship, Evelyn Nesbit's vaudeville house, etc. It would be incredibly difficult (and expensive) to build individual, elaborate sets for a show that takes place in so many different locations. Not saying it wouldn't work that way, but most productions I've seen or heard about have opted for the more bare, versatile look.

Updated On: 7/4/13 at 12:46 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/4/13 at 7:22pm

While it was a massive, expensive (I assume) set, Eugene Lee's set still was fairly abstract--and was absolutely thrilling when I saw the Vancouver production (with the LA cast--John Rubinstein was Tateh, LaChanze was amazing as Sarah.) I do remember thinking the quite literal library set that comes near the end was probably not needed...

[ViniFromBrazil]

Posted: 1/23/17 at 6:26pm

I wish I had recorded the presentation of Ragtime's opening that I've just seen here in Brazil. It reminded me of this revival because the staging was very simple, but the concept was really bizarre. They turned it into a horror scene, really. The white actors in the beginning were speaking the same Trump-Supporters-Online lines, but they were walking like spiders, looking extremely pale and wearing black clothes (the Little Boy in the beginning was a weird trigger warning). The black actors seemed happy, wearing white, but most of them with scars and bruises, dancing in an awkward way as though they were gradually having a panic attack. The immigrants were wearing WWII striped pajamas (or were they only in chain gang styled  clothes? I couldn't say) and EXTREMELY happy, to the point it was also really scary. There were more or less 50 actors on stage and by the time they had to walk across the stage looking at each other it was really intense. I don't know if it really worked because the singing was not that good, but I was curious as to the originality of this concept... has this been tried before? I don't know, it seemed like something Ivo van Hove would've already done?!?!

Updated On: 1/23/17 at 06:26 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/23/17 at 6:44pm

Oh, my.   Are you sure you were at Ragtime?  

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 1/23/17 at 10:27pm

I saw it. It was fine. Nothing mind-blowing. Christiane Noll and Bobby Steggert were phenomenal, the rest...just meh.  Didn't care for Stephanie Umoh.

Design was fine, orchestrations were fine...it was just so unremarkable in so many ways. Very much felt like a great regional production of the show you could see anywhere, so how did it justify Broadway prices?

It also opened my eyes to the weaknesses of Ragtime in general - while it has a great score and message, it is not a flawless show.  In order to make it work, you need actors with incredible voices that also have Shakespearean gravitas (Stokes, Audra, Noll, most of the OBC) - and when you don't have one or the other (Petkoff, Umoh in the revival) it falls very flat.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 1/24/17 at 1:02am

The show was one of several shows that have come in from DC under the mistaken belief that something that does well regionally can find an audience on Broadway without regard to any other consideration. That is reason numero uno for its failure. Was the timing bad? Sure. Why? Because the landlord knew what this was and were only too happy to take the money when they did not need the venue. And all these other factors are contributors but the bottom line is that no clear-headed analysis would have resulted in this show coming in. 

[broadwayguy91]

Posted: 1/24/17 at 1:36am

the fact that the original didn't recoup should have been a warning sign.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/24/17 at 2:13am

I just don't like the idea of something coming from a regional house to Broadway. Ticket prices are higher for the same damn product - and most of the time they don't feel "Broadway" enough. The bare bones approach worked against it. It was pretty at first, but for such a sweeping musical it felt boring and lackluster. 

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 1/24/17 at 2:29am

broadwayguy91 said: "the fact that the original didn't recoup should have been a warning sign.

 

"

Not really. The show didn't get bad reviews when it originally ran, not to say that it got remarkable reviews either, but the recoupment of a past production -- a past production with a much more expensive cast, set, and costumes -- probably isn't something to base the possible success of a more recent production on.

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 1/24/17 at 2:34am

Savannah Wise was a revelation, and was even nominated for an Astaire Award for playing Evelyn.