Video: Watch Highlights from the Original Run of RAGTIME

Tonight's the night! The Entertainment Community Fund's one-night-only benefit reunion concert of Ragtime will take place at the Minskoff Theatre. The event will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show's Broadway opening and will star original cast members including Emmy, Grammy and six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald ("Sarah"), two-time Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell ("Coalhouse Walker, Jr.") and SAG Award winner Peter Friedman ("Tateh"), with Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara ("Mother") in the role originally performed by the late Marin Mazzie.

Ragtime opened on Broadway 25 years ago on January 18, 1998, Ragtime opened on Broadway at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now the Lyric Theatre). The beloved musical played for 834 performances.

Based on the classic American novel by E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime has a book by Terrence McNally (Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!) and a score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once On This Island, Anastasia, Seussical).

As we await the big night, recap some of our favorite original Ragtime moments below!

Flaherty explains how the creative process began:

The original Broadway cast featured Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Peter Friedman, Audra McDonald, Judy Kaye, Mark Jacoby and Lea Michele. Ragtime received 14 Tony Award nominations, winning for Best Book of a Musical (Terrence McNally), Best Original Score (Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Audra McDonald) and Best Orchestrations (William David Brohn).

Watch the 1998 Tony Awards performance:

Set in the early 20th century, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States: African Americans, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician and Sarah; upper-class suburbanites, represented by Mother and her family, the matriarch of a white upper-class family in New Rochelle, New York; and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. It also incorporates historical figures such as Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Stanford White, Harry Kendall Thaw, Admiral Peary, Matthew Henson, and Emma Goldman.

Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell perform "Wheels of a Dream":

Marin Mazzie and Peter Friedman sing "Our Children":

Brian Stokes Mitchell and cast perform "Gettin' Ready Rag":

Marin Mazzie sings "Back to Before":

Brian Stokes Mitchell sings "Make Them Hear You":