[.ca] Ragtime

From Amazon.com:
The epic sweep of Ragtime is captured in its opening prologue, a nine-minute kaleidoscope of fictional characters mingling with historical figures from the early 20th century as originally captured in E.L. Doctorow's sprawling novel. As the story continues, we meet pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Brian Stokes Mitchell) and his child's mother, Sarah (Audra McDonald), who has been taken in by a respectable family (including Marin Mazzie as Mother). Parallel story lines of the Latvian immigrant Tateh (Peter Friedman), the entertainer Evelyn Nesbit (Lynnette Perry), and even Harry Houdini (Jim Corti) and Emma Goldman (Judy Kaye) eventually mingle and merge. Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on This Island) mix marches, cakewalks, and of course ragtime to create a rich, compelling score, including Sarah's song to her baby, "Your Daddy's Son," her soaring duet with Coalhouse, "Wheels of a Dream," Mother's self-revealing "Back to Before," and numerous set pieces, all performed by a perfect cast. Ragtime was nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 1998, with wins for McDonald, original score, book, and orchestration. The CD also includes an eight-minute symphonic suite conducted by Paul Gemignani and a booklet with photos, full lyrics, and a history of how the score was written. Tragic, touching, and ultimately triumphant, Ragtime is an American classic. --David Horiuchi

Amazon.com essential recording:
The epic sweep of Ragtime is captured in its opening prologue, a nine-minute kaleidoscope of fictional characters mingling with historical figures from the early 20th century as originally captured in E.L. Doctorow's sprawling novel. As the story continues, we meet pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Brian Stokes Mitchell) and his child's mother, Sarah (Audra McDonald), who has been taken in by a respectable family (including Marin Mazzie as Mother). Parallel story lines of the Latvian immigrant Tateh (Peter Friedman), the entertainer Evelyn Nesbit (Lynnette Perry), and even Harry Houdini (Jim Corti) and Emma Goldman (Judy Kaye) eventually mingle and merge. Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on This Island) mix marches, cakewalks, and of course ragtime to create a rich, compelling score, including Sarah's song to her baby, "Your Daddy's Son," her soaring duet with Coalhouse, "Wheels of a Dream," Mother's self-revealing "Back to Before," and numerous set pieces, all performed by a perfect cast. Ragtime was nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 1998, with wins for McDonald, original score, book, and orchestration. The CD also includes an eight-minute symphonic suite conducted by Paul Gemignani and a booklet with photos, full lyrics, and a history of how the score was written. Tragic, touching, and ultimately triumphant, Ragtime is an American classic. --David Horiuchi

Ruined a perfectly good novel.:
If EL Doctrow were dead, I would assume he'd be rolling in his grave. The music, a pop-happy score written by the same pasty white schmucks responsible for such CRAP as "Seussical" and "Once on this Island" (THEY'RE NOT BLACK), WON A TONY? And not just one, but four? This is an awful mess of bland and meaningless power ballads. Ahrens and Flaherty should be shot. I hate this show. I hate it. It is awful.

Not as Great as Everyone Says:
For several years, I've heard nothing but great things about "Ragtime," so I finally gave in and bought the two disc, complete recording. I have to say, I'm disappointed. It's not like the show is bad, but it is not nearly as good as everyone says it is. First off, the music. It does tackle various musical styles and attempts to capture the epic sweep of the narrative. However, it only excells in a few areas. In fact, "Your Daddy's Son" and "Wheels of a Dream" are the only two tracks that live up to my expectations. Most other songs have a musical phrase or two that's highly inventive, but that inventiveness sadly is not sustained throughout most tracks. The only consistantly excellent part of the music are the orchestrations, which are grand, sweeping, and epitomize what the show is trying to be. Also, the performances are only so-so. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Brian Stokes Mitchell's Coalhouse is highly overrated. I was especially disappointed with his stacatto singing, which breaks up his phrases far to much for my taste. As he evidenced by his performance of "The Impossible Dream" on the 2003 Tonys, this man can SING, but sadly doesn't do so very often on this CD. Marrian Mazzie's Mother is all right, and she has a nice voice, but the character doesn't get the best songs. The only cast member who is truly up to snuff is Audra McDonald. The first time I heard her sing "Your Daddy's Son," I got chills. She has such a piercing, powerful voice, and has invested so much emotion in this one piece of music it's unbelievable. It's the highlight of the entire two disc set, and I spent most of the rest of the CD waiting for her to get more of a chance to sing. Unfortunately, after "Wheels of a Dream" she pretty much disappears, and I wish her character could have been in more of the show. My biggest problem with Ragtime is that it tries to hard. You can tell the performers and writers are trying to be great, which annoys me to no end. The truly great musicals do not have to work this hard to get your attention; they simply are amazing. For example, Audra McDonald simply IS excellent on this CD; Brian Stokes Mitchell pushes a little too much. This in a nutshell is the problem with this show: Too much pushing, too little true excellence.

I love this CD and this show:
This CD was like the best thing I've heard in a while. IF you haven't heard it, go find it because you are missing out on something good. I've heard Audra McDonald sing "Daddy's Son" a billion times and I still get teary. That should tell you something about her performance. Some of Mother's work also makes me teary. I'm serious: GET THIS CD!!

Good also from experience...:
I was recently involved in a production of "Ragtime" at my community theater. It is not only one of the best shows we have ever done, it is also an amazing show within itself. I purchased this cd shortly after to get the chance to listen to every song with this cast. I am so amazed by the pure talent shown in every single song. Mind you, it's not one of the usual musicals. This one has more emotion and raw feelings involved, and doesn't have a happy show stopper ever 5 minutes. it does, on the other hand, have mind blowing songs that show the true talent of these performers. My personal favorites are "Wheels of a Dream", "Your Daddy's Son", "Til We Reach That Day", and "He Wanted to Say". I hope you buy this cd and go see the show, it's one of the best shows I have ever seen.

An Incredible Show:
I think this show is amazing. Absolutely point blank amazing. I am in the show right now and I play the role of Sarah and I can't get enough of Audra McDonald. Amazing. What else can I say? And I am also writing in protest, because there is this extremely stupid person who writes negative reviews about every musical ever. I am very frustrated after hearing their opinion about Ragtime, Wicked, Le Miz, Little Shop, The Scarlett Pimpernel, Phantom of the Opera, Urinetown, Once on this Island, and a ton of others. Are you some kind of idiot? Wow you are rediculously dumb. Because honestly, you hate every show in existance. And really, why do you bother to review any of them? We know you hate everything ever written. What's the point. And really its amazing because I have never in my whole life met someone who hates as many of the greatest shows ever as you do. Next you're going to decide to hate Miss Saigon, The Sound of Music, Chicago, Cabaret, Parade, Songs for a New World, oh and wait, everything else EVER. I am very angry right now. VERY. You are the dumbest person that has ever existed and I would just like you to know that. As for everyone else reading this, ignore this person's reviews. Their opinion means absolutely nothing to almost everyone. I think 4 people found any of this person's 12 reviews helpful. REDICULOUS. And who are you exactly to be discussing anyone else's performance, since I doubt you have any talent and I really doubt you have been on broadway. And since you haven't...

• Ragtime \oExcerpt\c - Rose, Nicholas
• Goodbye My Love - Marin Mazzie
• Journey On - Lynnette Perry, Ensemble
• Crime of the Century
• Gettin' Ready Rag - Audra McDonald
• Henry Ford
• Your Daddy's Son - Audra McDonald, Brian Mitchell
• New Music
• Wheels of a Dream
• Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square - Camille Saviola, Steven Sutcliffe
• Gliding - Peter Friedman
• 'Till We Reach That Day
• What a Game! - Mark Jacoby, Nick Rose, Ensemble
• Coalhouse's Soliloquy - Brian Mitchell
• He Wanted to Say
• Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc. - Peter Friedman
• Our Children - Peter Friedman, Marin Mazzie
• Show Biz - Jim Corti, Lynnette Perry
• Back to Before - Marin Mazzie
• Make Them Hear You - Brian Mitchell
• Wheels of a Dream (Reprise)