By Lucy Komisar
It’s the “melting pot” of 1906, but the melt isn’t easy. A few heroes and many moral cowards move in a swirl of racism and anti-immigrant abuses. Based on the stunning novel by E.J. Doctorow, a century later, one can say plus ça change.
All depicted in a glorious musical, first seen in 1998 and created by some of Broadway’s most iconic talents: book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty. Now, director Lear deBessonet and choreographer Ellemore Scott bring their own stamp to the production, making it seem like a vivid pageant. The eloquent story, music and voices create a brilliant contemporary opera — in ragtime.
The tragic hero is Coalhouse Walker Jr. (the stunning operatic baritone Joshua A. Henry), the tragic victim his lover Sarah (a charming soprano Nichelle Lewis). Of the decent white upper-class are “Mother” (Cassie Levy, whose voice soars) and her Younger Brother (the fine Ben Levi Ross).
Among the nasties is Father (Colin Donnell) and a collection of racist Irish firemen who apparently forgot that they were decades earlier not always welcomed to the U.S. (“No Irish need apply.”) And of course, the inherently nasty capitalists Henry Ford (Jason Forbach) and J.P. Morgan (John Rapson).
My favorite is the heroine Emma Goldman (appropriately played by Shaina Taub who wrote “Suffs.”) And Tateh the tough Jewish Eastern European immigrant (Brandon Uranowitz).
The sweep of the story reminded me of Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia.”
Mother digging in her New Rochelle (rich NYC suburb) garden finds an infant, who turns out to be the child of Sarah, the lover of Coalhouse. Mother keeps police from arresting Sarah and shelters them both. But for several months Sarah refuses Coalhouse’s entreaties to get back together. Meanwhile, Father is on a trip to the Arctic with Admiral Peary and knows nothing about this.
Ragged immigrants arrive. They are oppressed by the capitalists (who of course oppress all workers, but immigrants are easy). Tateh and his daughter jump on train to Philadelphia, then end up in Lawrence Mass, site of a mill workers’ movement. Of course, he is beaten by police. Emma Goldman organizes against the kepitalists (her Yiddish diction) in Union Square and later at the Lawrence mills.
In a terrific number, Father takes his son to a baseball game where the fans are working-class guys who spout curses that upset Father. “There’s hardly one American there!”
To set the stage of the times are Evelyn Nesbit (a chirpy Anna Grace Barlow), whose rich husband shot her lover, architect Sanford White (“the crime of the century” and it was only 1906!) And Houdini (Rodd Cyrus), also an immigrant! In Atlantic City we see Houdini in chains and Nesbit in a flimsier outfit.
The real heroes are Coalhouse, Mother and Tateh, who represent the country’s better future.
It is fascinating how Tateh turns a collection of his cut silhouettes into a flicker “movie book.” It presages his role as a director of silent pictures.
And it is horrific how Coalhouse, a jazz pianist who uses his talent to move up, is destroyed by America”s racial hatred.
After his Model-T is smashed by brutal firemen and Sarah is beaten to death by vicious club-wielding police, he barricades himself and young supporters in the J.P. Morgan Library, a symbol of corrupt capitalism. Younger Brother, who works for the family fireworks company, joins them, saying “I know how to blow things up.”
Coalhouse sings to his young comrades, “Make them hear you.” Cheers from the audience. Booker T. Washington (John Clay III) wants to persuade whites they need not fear black people and tells Coalhouse to end his protest. It can’t end well.
The choreography mixes the elegant parasol holding whites’ dance steps, the blacks’ ragtime jiving, and the immigrants’ dark movements. The numbers are thrilling.
Postscript, Younger Brother goes to Mexico and joins the revolutionary Zapata movement. Emma Goldman is arrested and deported. Of course, Ed Doctorow was a man of the Left.
“Ragtime.” Book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty. Directed by Lear deBessonet and choreographed by Ellemore Scott. Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow (1931-2015). Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont, 165 West 65th St, NYC. Runtime 2hrs45min. Opened Oct 16, 2025, closes June 14, 2026.