Ragtime - 12.03.09

Hello faithful reader(s)! I bring to you the second theatre review of our blog. It’s a little late, but with impending finals and other various assignments piling up at the end of the semester, things have been a little hectic. The video portion of the review will be up soon too! That entry will also feature other pictures, so check back early next week!

On Friday December 4, 2009, Grace and I saw the revival of Ragtime. It was a rather adventurous journey into the city, as we were separated for half of the train ride. Luckily, I had my iPod to entertain me during those 20 minutes.

After our arrival, our first stop was the Booth Theatre, where we purchased tickets for our next show, which will be the first official show of our 12 Months 12 Musicals Project. We will be seeing Next to Normal and it’ll be the fourth time for each of us. We saw it together twice last semester (once in April about a week after opening, and then again at the end of May). Then, we both saw it separately in July a week apart (I went the day before my birthday with my friend Nicole, she went on her birthday with her family). So, since it has been nearly 6 months since either of us has seen this truly amazing show, we thought it was time to go back. Also, we’re bringing a special guest with us. My sister, Katie, hates musicals, BUT she saw the Next to Normal Tony performance and thought it actually looked kind of good. So, she mentioned that she’d like to see it with us, as long as she didn’t have to pay for her ticket (thanks Mom & Dad!). We’re very excited to bring her to her first Broadway show. Even she’s excited about it.

After we secured our place in Row H for January 3 (we were both baffled that our tickets said 2010 – already?) we walked across Shubert Alley to Junior’s, one of our favorite restaurants. We were seated in almost the same table as last time, and even had the same waiter (and the same so-so service). We split an amazing piece of chocolate cake for dessert. It was worth every calorie!

Also, I got a little bit clever with the check and put the coins in the credit card slot. I couldn’t help but laugh when the waiter said “change” upon picking it up. Heheh.

We had quite a bit of time to kill before our show, so we wandered around the little theatre stores in Times Square. We even had an actor sighting! Sort of. We were standing by the store between Next to Normal and Memphis and I just happened to look up at the right time to see Adam Chanler-Berat (Henry) enter the Next to Normal stagedoor. I’m counting it.

When we eventually headed to the theatre, we walked past a random woman sobbing in the middle of the sidewalk. Gotta love New York City.

THE SHOW



Our seats were in the mid-mezzanine, on the right side of the center, which was a pretty good view of the stage. The entire three rows in front of us were completely empty, so I had a nice foot rest for the first act and then we had even closer seats for act two!

As for Ragtime, Grace and I both enjoyed it. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be “beautiful.” I was in love from beginning.

The show was very visually pleasing, with gorgeous costumes and a really nice backdrop to a very cool, multi-level set.

I was completely unfamiliar to the music (and pretty much everything) before seeing the show, but it had a great score. My favorite songs included the opening number of “Ragtime,” “Back to Before,” and “Sarah Brown Eyes” (although I might have a slight bias with that last one).

The talent of the cast was incredible, from the leads to the ensemble. My favorite performances were from Christiane Noll (Mother), Valisia Lekae (Sarah – understudy), and Bobby Steggert (Mother’s Younger Brother). They each had exceptional acting and singing skills, although the entire cast was fabulous. I also really enjoyed the performance of Christopher Cox as The Little Boy. He was my favorite character. I also loved the Grandfather. He was very funny.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the show was the way it was told. I thought the third person narration from the characters was really interesting and really added something to the show.

Perhaps our favorite part of the show was when little Coalhouse Walker III runs out at the end. He was quite possibly the cutest little boy ever. We wanted to adopt him because he was just that adorable.

Overall, I thought the production was excellent. I definitely recommend it.

STAGE DOOR

After the show, we headed to the stagedoor and were next to the most obnoxious woman EVER. Grace does a fabulous impersonation on the video, as you’ll see when she puts that up. But, anyway, there was this woman there with an awful chain-smoker voice who obnoxiously stopped everyone who walked out the door. And she didn’t even know who they were. She stopped everyone with an annoying “WILL YOU SIGN” but some of the orchestra members shrugged her off saying that they were just in the orchestra. And when she had people sign, she was like “Who did you play?” and “what was your name?” and “Sign near your picture. NO not on your picture.” It was very entertaining, but she was still kind of annoying.

Anyway, I was VERY excited for the stagedoor. I’m not sure how many people know who he is, but Benjamin Schrader was in the ensemble. For those of you who aren’t familiar, he played Gabriel in the old workshops of Feeling Electric (Next to Normal) in 2002 and 2005.

When he came out, I stopped him to sign my playbill and tell him how awesome he was on the Feeling Electric bootlegs. We had a really nice little conversation about how awesome the older workshops of the show were. He seemed shocked to hear that I still listen to the bootlegs. All the time. There’s just something about Norbert Leo Butz singing “I’ve Been”… wait, this is supposed to be about Ragtime.

Anyway, he was super nice and said it was cool that I was an older fan since a ton of the Next to Normal fans are just getting into the picture (I was told to consider myself a mega-fan, and that I will do haha). So then I got a picture and was quite happy with the way things played out.



I’m wonder how my 16 year old self would have handled knowing that this was going to happen. Probably not well. I’m glad I’m not 16 anymore haha.

The entire cast was super nice and genuine. That’s always fun.

I got a picture with Bobby Steggert because he’s super adorable! And very talented.



The other stagedoor moment that sticks out in my mind was with Valisia Lekae, who was the understudy on for Sarah that night. She had a gorgeous voice and I loved her performance. She was, like the rest of the cast, very friendly. When she got to us, she asked our names, so of course I tell her my name is Sarah. She was really excited that I had the same name as her character, but it gets better. She looks up from signing and goes “YOU HAVE BROWN EYES!” Haha, yes I do! Which might be why I liked that song so much. She said she’d always remember that. Pretty cool. Then she told Grace that her name was just as beautiful as mine. She was so sweet.

Quentin Earl Darrington, who played Coalhouse, was also very sweet and thanked us numerous times for coming to see the show. He was great.



Overall, a very pleasant stagedoor. Although nothing can beat the epicness that was Bye Bye Birdie (I mean, John Stamos… come on!), I think this is one of my favorites.

In conclusion, the show was fabulous. I know there are closing rumors everywhere, but I really hope they end up not being true. The production was incredible and I really enjoyed it. I’d love to go back and see it again. I just hope it stays open long enough for me to get the chance!

In the mean time, check back in a few days for the video blog and a review of Memphis (I rushed it for the second time last night). Next on the list for Grace and I is Next to Normal on January 3. That should be a good one. In the meantime, go see Ragtime. You won’t regret it.