Original D.C. Cast Reflects on the RAGTIME Experience

For the seven Washington-Baltimore based members of the RAGTIME cast who originated the production at the Kennedy Center and remained a part of its transfer to Broadway, the show's closing is bittersweet.  In a feature out in the Washington Post today, Donna Migliaccio (Emma Goldman), Dan Manning (Grandfather), Sumayya Ali (Ensemble), Tracy Lynn Olivera (Ensemble), Christopher Cox (Narrator), Ben Cook (Narrator Understudy), and Sarah Rosenthal (The Little Girl) weigh in on just what Ragtime, and making their Broadway debuts, has meant to them.

Says Migliaccio of the experience, "It showed me that I'm not too old a dog to learn some new tricks . . . that commercial theatre isn't always all about the money -- sometimes it's about people who believe passionately enough in a project to lose money on it."

For Sumayya Ali, the consistent audience praise was enough to fulfill her fairytale: "People are roaring like U2 just finished a concert." Echoes Dan Manning, "Here they leap. Here you feel there's more honesty...They want to show you how much they appreciate what you just did for them. . . . It still remains an experience to do the show, to see what happens to the audience."

Reveals Tracy Lynn Olivera of her lasting impression of the experience: "You can't pass up an opportunity like this...I remember looking at Donna [Migliaccio] on the first night and being totally overwhelmed. We both started crying."

For child participants, Christopher Cox, Ben Cook, and Sarah Rosenthal, they do not want to bid farewell, but all acknowledge that it was the "best" experience they ever had.  Says Rosenthal words, "Now that I've done it, the happiest I've been is when I'm onstage. . . . It sounds kind of cheesy, but I love it a lot."

To read the full feature in the Washington Post, click here.

The critically acclaimed new production of Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Tony Award® winning musical RAGTIME will play its final performance on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre (250 West 52 Street) on Sunday, January 3, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. following 28 preview and 57 regular performances.

Producer Kevin McCollum said: "While we're saddened and disappointed to announce that RAGTIME must close, bringing this beautiful and powerful production to Broadway has been a joyous experience. We couldn't have asked for a more talented and dedicated company and creative team or a more passionate team of producers."

Director/Choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge's production of RAGTIME debuted at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater on April 18, 2009 and played a sold out limited engagement through May 17 before transferring to Broadway where it began previews October 23 and officially opened Sunday, November 15, 2009.

Time Magazine named RAGTIME the Best Musical of 2009, the New York Times said "An elegant uplifting production that presents a panoramic vision of America," Associated Press said "Joyous and thrilling, with a joyous score. This is what musical theater is all about" and NY-1 News raved "This Ragtime is one for the ages."

The revival of Ragtime, a musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel: a complex turn-of-the-20th-century tapestry that weaves together stories of a WASP family, an African-American musician and a Jewish immigrant as they make their way in the new New World.

The John F. Kennedy Center's new production of Terrence McNally,Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Tony Award® winning musical RAGTIME, based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, features direction and choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, and a majestic 28-piece orchestra led by musical director James Moore.

RAGTIME features a company of 40, starring Ron Bohmer(Father),Quentin Earl Darrington (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Christiane Noll(Mother), Robert Petkoff (Tateh), Bobby Steggert (Mother's Younger Brother), Stephanie Umoh (Sarah), with Christopher Cox (The Little Boy), Sarah Rosenthal (The Little Girl), Mark Aldrich (Willie Conklin),Aaron Galligan-Stierle (Henry Ford), Jonathan Hammond(Harry Houdini), Dan Manning (Grandfather), Michael X. Martin (J.P. Morgan),Mike McGowan (Stanford White), Donna Migliaccio (Emma Goldman),Josh Walden (Harry K. Thaw), Savannah Wise (Evelyn Nesbit), Eric Jordan Young (Booker T. Washington).

RAGTIME also features Sumayya Ali, Terence Archie, Corey Bradley,Jayden Brockington,Benjamin Cook, Carey Rebecca Brown, Jennifer Evans, Carly Hughes, Lisa Karlin, Valisia LeKae, James Moye, TracyLynn Olivera, Mamie Parris, Bryonha Parham, Nicole Powell, Kaylie Rubinaccio, Arbender J. Robinson, Benjamin Schrader, Wallace Smith,Catherine Walker, Jim Weaver, Kylil Christopher Williams.

RAGTIME originally opened on Broadway on January 18, 1998 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. The musical garnered four Tony Awards® including Best Book, Original Score and Best Orchestrations. The beloved Ahrens and Flaherty score features some of the award-winning team's best-known songs including the title song, "Make Them Hear You" and the anthem "The Wheels of a Dream."

RAGTIME tickets prices are $46.50, $86.50 and $126.50 (including $1.50 facility fee) and available by calling Ticketmaster at 212-307-4100 or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

RAGTIME plays the following schedule: Tues. eve. at 7p; Wed., Thurs., Fri. and Sat. eve at 8p, Wed. and Sat. mat. at 2p; Sun. mat. at 3p. Dark Mon.