\n<\/p>\n
\n\tNearly 30 years after its Broadway debut, Terrence McNally\u2019s acclaimed \u201cRagtime,\u201d a panoramic look at a tumultuous historical moment, is returning to the Great White Way for a new era.<\/p>\n
\n\t When the musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow\u2019s 1975 novel was unveiled in 1996, it grappled with social issues that continue to plague Americans today. From upward mobility to racism and class stratification, the production highlights what it means to pursue progress in an ever-evolving nation.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith the United States once again at a turning point in its history, Tony Award-nominated director Lear deBessonet knew it was the perfect opportunity to bring the sweeping musical to Lincoln Center.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou can watch a film at home that just rattles you to your core, but you\u2019re by yourself,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s different than feeling those things and being with over a thousand other people that are also having feelings. There is something deeply restorative about it. And restorative is different than hopeful, but it is healing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDeBessonet\u2019s revival opened last year at New York City Center to raves. Now she\u2019s bringing her cast \u2014 anchored by Tony nominee Joshua Henry, Grammy nominee Caissie Levy and Tony winner Brandon Uranowitz \u2014 to a new stage with McNally\u2019s book, Stephen Flaherty\u2019s music and Lynn Ahrens\u2019 lyrics.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s beautiful about Lear and her team is they have from the outset made it very clear that this is a \u2018Ragtime\u2019 for now,\u201d Levy says.<\/p>\n
\n\tSet in the early 20th century, the play weaves together the stories of three distinct groups\u2014 Black Americans, Eastern European immigrants and white Americans \u2014 as they attempt to achieve the good lives that the country has promised them during a period of political and economic transformation.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIn a moment when there are so many questions about this country\u2019s history, there\u2019s also just a lot of really human personal moments in this show that I think people will resonate with in different ways,\u201d deBessonet says. \u201cIt just feels like the perfect way to fulfill what theater\u2019s here to do in the first place. And I do think \u2018Ragtime\u2019 is an American masterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the musical, Levy portrays Mother, the matriarch of a wealthy white family, who discovers her self-confidence and independence. \u201cShe\u2019s so strong and open and vulnerable at the same time,\u201d Levy says. \u201cI think that her superpower is her ability to connect with people and see everyone\u2019s humanity and allow herself to be changed by others. It\u2019s definitely opened me up and reminded me of the places that I\u2019ve maybe shut down that I do need to reexamine. The beautiful thing about Mother is that she doesn\u2019t make it about herself. She follows her gut instincts and sometimes makes choices that are difficult or messy, but she allows the people around her to broaden her horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFor Henry\u2019s part, his role as Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Black musician living in Harlem, carries a lot of the play\u2019s anguished moments. Coalhouse is a popular performer, but his ambitions are thwarted by the prejudice he faces. It\u2019s a struggle that ultimately ends in tragedy. However, the actor credits deBessonet with creating a space for him to throw himself into the part completely. \u201cI love roles that require a lot,\u201d Henry says. \u201cI like the idea of living at the edge of your comfort bubble, and Coalhouse forces me to lean into extreme joy, hope and resilience and then in the second act, sacrifice and what it means to be aware of your place in a community and what it means to be aware of your service beyond yourself. It\u2019s a big plate to eat every night. And I\u2019m hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThough the ensemble is vast, perhaps more than any other character, Uranowitz\u2019s Tateh, a Jewish immigrant newly arrived in New York, represents an idyllic version of the American dream. \u201cI think what makes doing this show so special now is that we as a culture are asking ourselves new and different questions than we were asking ourselves in the 1990s,\u201d Uranowitz says. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI hope that people see the promise of America in Tateh. They see that idealistic version of what can happen. But I hope that they ask with a sense of curiosity and with a sense of how we are going through growing pains as a society and a culture right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly 30 years after its Broadway debut, Terrence McNally\u2019s acclaimed \u201cRagtime,\u201d a panoramic look at a tumultuous historical moment, is returning to the Great White Way for a new era. When the musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow\u2019s 1975 novel was unveiled in 1996, it grappled with social issues that continue to plague Americans today. From<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[9797,1711,15352,2107,13437,15353,3067,1456],"class_list":{"0":"post-25406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-broadway","9":"tag-cast","10":"tag-debessonet","11":"tag-director","12":"tag-lear","13":"tag-ragtime","14":"tag-revival","15":"tag-talks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}