Celebrating Black History Month: RAGTIME Arrives on Ellis Island

This February, BroadwayWorld is committed to celebrating the outstanding contributions that black artists have made to the American theatre. Join us for Black History month as we shine a spotlight on some of the most influential productions from Broadway's past. Today is all about Ragtime.

Ragtime originally opened on Broadway in 1998 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, where it played for 834 performances. With music by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens and a book by Terrence McNally, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States: African Americans, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician; upper-class suburbanites, represented by Mother, the matriarch of a white upper-class family in New Rochelle, New York; and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia.

A Broadway revival played for 65 performances in 2009, and the musical returned for a one-night-only concert on Ellis Island in 2016. The concert, directed by Sammi Cannold, featured performances by Brandon Victor Dixon as Coalhouse Walker Jr., Laura Michelle Kelly as Mother, Michael Park as Father, Andy Mientus as Younger Brother, Shaina Taub as Emma Goldman, Aisha Jackson as Sarah, and Robert Petkoff as Tateh.

Below, watch as Dixon is joined onstage by original Coalhouse, Brian Stokes Mitchell, for a stirring rendition of the show's Act 2 anthem, "Make Them Hear You."