Ragtime
Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, NYC, October 12, 2025
Reviewed by Chip Deffaa
Photos by Matthew Murphy
When City Center Encores presented Ragtime last year, I wrote that it was about as satisfying as any work I’d seen at Encores in some 30 years and noted that I hoped it would transfer to Broadway. Now it has transferred to the Vivian Beaumont Theater for a 16-week limited engagement. The production, honed to perfection, is now even richer and more rewarding. If you can get a ticket, go! Ragtime is absolutely stunning, first-rate musical theater. It’s as powerful and moving as any show now playing in New York, and it’s not to be missed.
There is so much to love here starting with those sumptuous, soaring Stephen Flaherty melodies and those taut, incisive, thought-provoking Lynn Ahrens lyrics. There’s also that compelling Terrence McNally book that captured the essence of E. L. Doctorow’s sprawling, densely packed 1975 novel that tells three interweaving stories set in the early 20th century. We’re caught up in the lives of a well-to-do white family in New Rochelle, a gifted Black musician from Harlem and the woman he loves, and a father and daughter who are poor immigrants newly arrived in an America that they see as filled with promise.
It is an extraordinarily ambitious musical, far more challenging and profound than typical Broadway fare. For my money, Ragtime is the greatest musical of the past 40 years. I’ve seen enough performances to know the show inside out. (I even attended the recording session for the original Broadway cast album.) I continue to find more in this show each time I see it. From start to finish, as I watched this production, I kept wiping away tears. It’s extremely rare for any show to move me like that.
This musical, which I’ve always loved, has never felt timelier. The struggle of immigrants, the fight for equal rights for all, the power wielded in our society by wealthy men, all of these issues that Ragtime deals with are issues that we’re still grappling with today. (And the line casually noting that activist Emma Goldman, a chronic irritant to the powers-that-be who wound up getting deported, certainly has more resonance today than when this show first opened on Broadway in 1998.)
The cast is, by and large, superb. Joshua Henry, whom I’ve appreciated since his standout performance in Kander & Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys, makes an outstanding Coalhouse Walker, Jr. He doesn’t just brilliantly carry off the challenging vocals—which would be impressive enough; he plays the role with just the right mix of strength, authority, and vulnerability. He commands the stage. Coalhouse Walker so badly wants to believe in the American dream; he wants to be treated fairly, and with dignity, but he is pushed to a breaking point. I’ve never seen this demanding role played better. (And I’ve seen masters in that role, including Brian Stokes Mitchell and Alton Fitzgerald White.)
Brandon Uranowitz, who knows how to make the most of any role, is a most engaging Tateh. He plays the role of that Eastern European immigrant-turned-filmmaker with feeling and flair. (He is no stranger to Ragtime, having played the role of the Little Boy during the show’s early development in Toronto, three decades ago.) He’s a delight.
Ben Levi Ross, whom I enjoyed so much starring in Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Connector last year, is wonderful as Mother’s Younger Brother. He finds much more in that supporting role than actors usually do, and gives a quirky, nuanced, and very human portrayal. Ross is an interesting and underappreciated artist with a natural likeability, and he sings beautifully too. There’s an edge to him in this performance—an awkward, troubled quality that really works. He’s the best “Mother’s Younger Brother” I’ve ever seen.
Cassie Levy is sublime as the mother. Hers is a first-rate, utterly believable, and fully realized performance. What a gorgeous voice! And what a fine line she walks, portraying a woman raised to believe that a wife must always defer to her husband while gradually finding a more modern, more fulfilling way of life for herself. The producers could not have found a better “Mother.” (And I might add, Broadway theater goers will be seeing and hearing a good bit of Cassie Levy this season; she’s been cast to play the female lead in the highly anticipated new musical “The Lost Boys,” will arrive at the Palace Theater in March 2026.)
Colin Donnell gives a solid performance as the austere and rather rigid patriarch of the family in New Rochelle, uncomfortable with changing times, yet managing, in small but significant ways, to grow. (He refuses to shake the hand of the first Black man he encounters in Ragtime, and near the end of the show, when he shakes Coalhouse Walker’s hand, it is a welcome sign of change.)
Nichelle Lewis makes a fine Sarah. She sings well and she’s likeable, but she’s simply not as strong, overall, as would be ideal for this key role. She’s in a difficult spot, of course, competing with the memory of Audra McDonald, who originated the role nearly 30 years ago. McDonald is a once-in-a-generation kind of talent, and she brought a transcendent quality to the role that I’ve never seen anyone else equal. McDonald made the role of Sarah semm as important as any in the show. (Now Sarah seems a bit more like a supporting character.) McDonald was compelling, and every inch a star—a very tough act to follow.
I enjoyed very much the individual contributions of Shaina Taub (Emma Goldman) and Rodd Cyrus (Harry Houdini). Both were very well cast; they brought their characters vividly to life. (I’m delighted to see that Houdini gets to make a far more impactful first appearance in this production than he did at City Center—a very wise bit of re-staging.)
But the real star, you might say, is this complex and terrifically well-written show itself. The score by Ahrens and Flaherty is exceptional; it is by far their most fully realized score, and they’ve created many good scores in their partnership of four decades. I’ve enjoyed all their shows, but their score for Ragtime is, by far, the most demanding and profound of any of their scores, and I like the way musical motifs emerge and periodically reappear. (Composer Flaherty deserves kudos, too, for his excellent vocal arrangements.) The music is evocative of the era and full of surprises.
The show’s elaborate prologue is as rewarding and stirring as any opening number I’ve ever seen in any musical, and it is magnificently staged here. The Vivian Beaumont Theater’s stage has greater depth than most Broadway stages, and every inch is put to good use.
It is a joy to hear William David Brohn’s original orchestrations again, played by a 28-piece orchestra conducted by James Moore. The sound design by Kai Harada is excellent; every word and every note is clear and feels natural. This production boasts the best vocal ensemble sounds in town. When the people filling the stage lift their voices as one, the sound is just glorious.
Ellenore Scott’s choreography held me from the first number to the last. She has a great feel for the Ragtime era and gives each of the three groups on stage—the well-to-do white family in New Rochelle, the African-Americans, and the immigrants—different body language.
Lear deBessonet has staged the show with respect and understanding. This is her first production as Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater and it is a sensational debut. The staging here is even better than it was at City Center. The tweaks and changes—including very smart use of revolving stages and hydraulic lifts—were all to the good.
I liked the striking lighting design by Adam Honore, too. (The sets were minimalistic in style; but actors were positioned so well, and lighting was used so dramatically, that we “saw” the scenes as well as if there had been full sets.)
It’s rare for any production to get so many details just right. This is the kind of production that restores my faith in the theater.
