NO TIME FOR "RAGTIME"

PRINT EDITION CONTENTS past issues

PAST GALLERIES

When "Ragtime" was first adapted for the stage, it was a runaway success. A new production just closed on Broadway, millions of dollars in debt. James C. Taylor explains what didn't work ...

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

In the 35 years since it was first published, America has continued to find time for "Ragtime". E.L. Doctorow’s book has been a steady seller for Random House since it was the must-read book of 1975. A panoramic view of America from 1900 to 1917, with archetypal characters and sweeping narrative arcs, "Ragtime" is more a work of mythology than historical fiction, which is why it has long tempted producers looking for the next "Gone With the Wind".

This lure has resulted in big-budget adaptations, with varying degrees of success. Paramount Picture’s 1981 film version had all the makings of an epic: a big, starry cast (including James Cagney’s final screen performance), an acclaimed Oscar-winning director (Milos Foreman) and the requisite three-hour running time. Yet the film failed to grab the country’s attention.

An opulent musical adaptation had more success 15 years later. While it didn’t turn the book’s anti-hero, Coalhouse Walker, into the next Scarlett O’Hara, it lured wide audiences for its big-budget story of three families—one Jewish, one black, one WASP—at the turn of the 20th century. Like the book, it won big awards (including the Tony for Best New Musical) and played for years both on Broadway and on tour around America.

Now, a decade after that production closed, a new one hit stages—first last spring at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC, where it earned strong reviews, and then on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre this past autumn. But this more minimal production, directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, played to half-empty houses for less than two months before closing on January 10th, leaving producers close to $8m in the hole.

Broadway wags have listed many symptoms for "Ragtime"’s early demise: the show lacked a big star (the original production helped make the careers of Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell), was revived too soon and perhaps the music isn’t so good. Success was easier at the Kennedy Centre because there are fewer entertainment options in Washington, DC, and patrons are often annual subscribers.

There is evidence for all of this. But like any blockbuster, hit musicals are often less a result of a production’s quality than of its unique ability to connect with the zeitgeist. The Broadway musical is first and foremost a reflection of the mood of the country.

During the second world war people flocked to comforting Americana, such as "Oklahoma!" and "On The Town" in theatres, and the musical "Meet Me In St Louis" in cinemas. The show "Hair" struck a national chord during the moody, rebellious 1960s, while the selfish shine of the Reagan era brought the reign of diverting rococo fluff, such as "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera". In many ways "Ragtime" was the perfect show for the 1990s: like President Bill Clinton, it was jazzy, smart and it felt our pain. It was a musical that said “Sure, your wife may have been beaten to death by the police, and yes, it’s horrible your mother was forced into prostitution, but don’t worry. You will be heard. Your suffering was not in vain.”

The big number, “The Wheels of a Dream”, posits that all these little tragedies, and the way immigrants, blacks and women have bravely persevered, have made this country a better place. Seeing the show in 1999, a time of unprecedented prosperity and three generations removed from this early, difficult time in America, "Ragtime" made for an uplifting evening.

Watching "Ragtime" today, however, is less cheery. First of all the main character, Coalhouse Walker, who goes around blowing up firehouses all across the eastern seaboard, is decidedly less sympathetic in a post-9/11 world. True, he was wronged by a bunch of racist firemen and cops whom he blames for his wife’s death, but Americans have less tolerance these days for random explosions that cause civilian deaths.

But the bigger problem is that "Ragtime", both Doctorow’s novel and the musical, fundamentally imply that despite the anarchy of the years leading up to the first world war, the country somehow emerged as a better place. During times of patriotism (the summer before the bicentennial, when the book appeared) or prosperity (the late 1990s), "Ragtime"’s mythology unsurprisingly caught fire.

This time, however, is different. The problems in America quaintly depicted on-stage are all too real today. Inequality of the sort depicted in the book, with millionaires dithering and immigrants starving, is on the rise. Firehouses in New England can be a hot-button racial issue (eg, Ricci v DeStefano). And in bit of history Doctorow might love, the producer of the original "Ragtime" musical, Garth Drabinsky, has been convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail for defrauding investors out of half a billion dollars.

Even a perfect production of "Ragtime" seems unlikely to resonate with Americans today. As a story about the American dream, the show only works when people can believe in it. But at a time when millions of Americans are out of work (and can’t afford expensive tickets), and many more feel pessimistic about the future, it is clearly not the right time for "Ragtime".

Picture credit: Joan Marcus

(James C. Taylor is the host of "Theatre Talk", a radio programme on KCRW. He writes about theatre and opera for the Los Angeles Times and Opera Magazine.)