Ragtime Returns To Broadway

The musical Ragtime, a favorite among many lovers of the modern musical, is coming back to Broadway in October, when it will arrive at the Neil Simon Theatre. The lavish show, based on the E.L. Doctorow novel of the same name, opened on Broadway in 1998 at the then brand new Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now called the Hilton Theatre), and ran for about three years before closing. To the consternation of its many fans, Ragtime lost the Tony Award for Best Musical to The Lion King, despite the fact that it had won both Best Book (for Terrence McNally) and Best Score (for Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty). The Broadway revival production originated at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and is both directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge. Ragtime follows three families as their lives become entwined during the tumultuous social change of the early 1900s. It includes a mix of fictional characters such as the ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. and Eastern European immigrant Tateh, and historical figures like Emma Goldman and Booker T. Washington.