{"id":2096838,"date":"2025-10-17T03:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T03:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2096838"},"modified":"2025-10-17T03:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T03:04:09","slug":"broadway-revival-still-misses-but-has-sensational-singing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/broadway-revival-still-misses-but-has-sensational-singing\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadway revival still misses \u2014 but has sensational singing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2025%2F10%2F113580624.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--review alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n\t\t<span class=\"inline-module--review__eyebrow subsection-heading-semi__label\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tTheater review\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-module--review__title subsection-heading-semi\">\n\t\t\tRAGTIME\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rating\">\n<div class=\"rating__stars\">\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 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stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--half\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--empty\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>2 hours and 45 minutes, with one intermission. At the Vivian Beaumont Theater, 150 W. 65th\u00a0St.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When massive musicals are downsized, the typical argument in favor of the choice is that fewer sets and dazzling doodads put the focus squarely on the music, lyrics and story.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s certainly true of the latest revival of \u201cRagtime,\u201d formerly a behemoth of an American history show, which opened Thursday night at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.<\/p>\n<p>Only the effect this time, much like the Ford Model T featured in it, goes in reverse: Stripping away the excesses of Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally\u2019s 1996 musical amplifies its many, many flaws.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A hefty chunk of the complicated plot \u2014 about the turbulent convergence of whites, blacks and European immigrants in New York state around the turn of the 20th century \u2014 is conveyed through hokey, animatronic, boilerplate narration that goes in one ear and out the other.<\/p>\n<p>Some more scenery would help clarify what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--more inline-module--columnist inline-module--more--thirds\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<h2 class=\"inline-module__heading subsection-heading subsection-heading--single-line \">\n\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"subsection-heading__sub\">Johnny Oleksinski<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Its score is largely elevated merry-go-round tunes. But the best songs, the anthemic \u201cWheels of a Dream,\u201d \u201cBack to Before\u201d and \u201cMake Them Hear You,\u201d which can be so rousing as concert stand-alones, are vague and generically sadspirational (\u201cGo out and tell our story! Let it echo far and wide!\u201d) when sung back to back with little to look at but the Beaumont\u2019s vast emptiness. One ballad after another.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A revival of the musical \u201cRagtime,\u201d starring Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowitz, opened on Broadway. <span class=\"credit\">Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And there are so many rapid-fire events in the overstuffed second act \u2014 arson, a move to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/tag\/atlantic-city\/\">Atlantic City<\/a>, a cryptic prediction of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a pointless baseball ditty, a film shoot, a brutal tragedy and a borderline comic epilogue in which we matter-of-factly learn almost everyone is dead \u2014 that the audience is left with little time to feel anything but whiplash.<\/p>\n<p>All that said, this revival of \u201cRagtime,\u201d barely directed by Lear deBessonet, goes back to before in one extraordinary area: its stupendous cast.<\/p>\n<p>The original <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/16\/us-news\/possible-broadway-shutdown-looms-after-unions-authorize-strike-leaving-theatergoers-in-the-dark-ny-is-nothing-without-broadway\/\">Broadway<\/a> production in 1998 featured career-changing performances from Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald and Marin Mazzie.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, in 2025, you feel every bit as fortunate to be basking in the radiant glow of Caissie Levy playing Mother, Ben Levi Ross as Mother\u2019s Younger Brother and especially the golden-voiced Joshua Henry as Harlem piano player Coalhouse Walker. The revival\u2019s power is all in the pipes.<\/p>\n<p>As for the story \u2014 well, how long you got?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Nichelle Lewis and Joshua Henry play Sarah and Coalhouse Walker. <span class=\"credit\">Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>E.L. Doctorow\u2019s novel that the musical is based on is 270 pages long, and I\u2019d need about that much space to adequately explain his thicket of intertwining characters.<\/p>\n<p>The calm life of a white family in idyllic New Rochelle \u2014 Father (Colin Donnell), Mother, Mother\u2019s  Younger Brother, Grandfather (Tom Nelis) and Little Boy (Nick Barrington) \u2014 is shaken up when a black baby is discovered abandoned in their garden.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s the son of Sarah (Nichelle Lewis), the spurned ex of Coalhouse, whom she\u2019ll no longer speak to.<\/p>\n<p>As the once-philandering Coalhouse tries to win Sarah back, Mother controversially decides the silent woman and her infant boy will move in upstairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Uranowitz plays Tateh, a Latvian Jewish immigrant. <span class=\"credit\">Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, downstate, Latvian Jewish immigrant Tateh and his daughter attempt to build a prosperous new life on the Lower East Side. But the American dream remains far out of reach for them. Brandon Uranowitz plays Tateh with his usual manic energy and nonstop fidgeting that so often rips me out of his performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tateh\u2019s story, as written, is the weakest thread of all, and even more so now in the wake of the rawer Adrien Brody <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/12\/31\/entertainment\/the-brutalist-review-adrien-brody-is-perfect-in-riveting-mammoth-epic\/\">immigrant movie \u201cThe Brutalist.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The big, diverse crew is messily tossed together, evolving along the way. Indeed, every other line, lest we dare forget, is about how the times, they are a-changin\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Levy sings a powerful \u201cBack to Before.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Those core fictional folks meet a cute array of real-life figures: Harry Houdini (Rodd Cyrus), anarchist Emma Goldman (Shaina Taub), Henry Ford (Jason Forbach), J.P. Morgan (John Rapson), Booker T. Washington (John Clay II) and vaudeville actress Evelyn Nesbit (Anna Grace Barlow).<\/p>\n<p>Side dishes, all.<\/p>\n<p>Levy, in one of my favorite performances of hers so far, sings a powerful \u201cBack to Before,\u201d about Mother\u2019s personal about-face. Yet she\u2019s competing with the red fabric that designer David Korins places above her, making it appear as if the actress got swallowed whole by a whale.<\/p>\n<p>Playing her brother, a politically driven explosives expert, Ross is grounded, real and forceful as he defies his antiquated dad. Ross, who starred in \u201cDear Evan Hansen,\u201d does the best acting in the show, albeit in one of its smaller principal parts. Let\u2019s hope we get to see a lot more of his theatrical fireworks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Ben Levi Ross gives one of the musical\u2019s best performances as Mother\u2019s Younger Brother. <span class=\"credit\">Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lewis, recently of \u201cThe Wiz,\u201d is unfortunately one-note as Sarah, a difficult role to add layers to. Her \u201cYour Daddy\u2019s Son\u201d falls flat. She\u2019s better when standing next to the indomitable Henry, a deep-feeling actor whose singing hits us like a sonic boom of pleasure. He\u2019s been sensational for years, but is finally getting his due here.\u00a0His Coalhouse has enough fuel to power Manhattan.<\/p>\n<p>If only the whole show were at his level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRagtime,\u201d a music-box nostalgia exercise that really only makes people nostalgic for the 1990s, marks deBessonet\u2019s freshman go as artistic director at Lincoln Center, and her first show in a while to not have an asterisk after it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cRagtime\u201d marks Lear deBessonet\u2019s first production as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater. <span class=\"credit\">Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her City Center productions, including an earlier version of \u201cRagtime,\u201d were staged concerts, and her Public Works projects featured hundreds of community members. Discerning any point of view from them was hard.<\/p>\n<p>It still is. She doesn\u2019t have a mastery of the Beaumont\u2019s huge thrust yet. And so this is an overly presentational staging in which actors other than Ross struggle to connect to one another, which is partly why the experience is mostly unmoving even as songs desperately beg us to cry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRagtime\u201d has never been a musical with a lot of personality, true, but deBessonet\u2019s iteration is especially monochromatic.<\/p>\n<p>Still, her cast sings the hell out of it. Everybody has taken the words \u201cMake Them Hear You\u201d to heart.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theater review RAGTIME 2 hours and 45 minutes, with one intermission. At the Vivian Beaumont Theater, 150 W. 65th\u00a0St. When massive musicals are downsized, the typical argument in favor of the choice is that fewer sets and dazzling doodads put the focus squarely on the music, lyrics and story. That\u2019s certainly true of the latest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2096839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[344468,21741,345885,24047,345886],"class_list":["post-2096838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-broadway","tag-entertainment","tag-musicals","tag-theater","tag-theater-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Broadway-revival-still-misses-\u2014-but-has-sensational-singing.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2096838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2096840,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096838\/revisions\/2096840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2096839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2096838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2096838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2096838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}