Ragtime - The Musical (1998 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Marin Mazzie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mark Jacoby, Jim Corti, Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, Audra McDonald, Judy Kaye, Ragtime (Related Recordings) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 28, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: RCA Victor Broadway
• ASIN: B0000064XS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (194 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,677 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > McDonald, Audra
  • #1 in Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime > Ragtime
  • #5 in Music > Folk > Jewish & Yiddish Music

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The epic sweep of Ragtime is captured in its opening prologue, a nine-minute kaleidoscope of fictional characters mingling with historical figures from the early 20th century as originally captured in E.L. Doctorow's sprawling novel. As the story continues, we meet pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Brian Stokes Mitchell) and his child's mother, Sarah (Audra McDonald), who has been taken in by a respectable family (including Marin Mazzie as Mother). Parallel story lines of the Latvian immigrant Tateh (Peter Friedman), the entertainer Evelyn Nesbit (Lynnette Perry), and even Harry Houdini (Jim Corti) and Emma Goldman (Judy Kaye) eventually mingle and merge. Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on This Island) mix marches, cakewalks, and of course ragtime to create a rich, compelling score, including Sarah's song to her baby, "Your Daddy's Son," her soaring duet with Coalhouse, "Wheels of a Dream," Mother's self-revealing "Back to Before," and numerous set pieces, all performed by a perfect cast. Ragtime was nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 1998, with wins for McDonald, original score, book, and orchestration. The CD also includes an eight-minute symphonic suite conducted by Paul Gemignani and a booklet with photos, full lyrics, and a history of how the score was written. Tragic, touching, and ultimately triumphant, Ragtime is an American classic. --David Horiuchi

Product Description

Double disc set in a slimline double jewelbox. Slipcover.

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS should be the way musicals appear on CD! March 18, 2004

By M J Heilbron Jr. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

The wonderful thing about this recording is that nearly the entire show is captured on disc. Often with cast recordings, so much occurs between the songs that the essence of the show is diluted. Here, you really get a sense of the operatic scope of the production.
All the other reviews justly laud the performers...they sing while acting amazingly well. I don't have much to add there. Believe the hype...they're awesome.
I'd like to compare this to the previous iteration of the show. "Ragtime" was originally released as a "highlights" style single disc. The opening song was edited, as was the closer. It appeared a year or so earlier, and the performances are different. The latter disc is NOT an edited version of the former.
The "songs only" version is interesting in that those versions work just fine. The edited 'Ragtime' intro plays better as a song when it's edited. It just loses a ton in exposition and drama. When you have the urge to hear a song, like "New Music" or "Wheels Of A Dream", the former one is actually a tad better. But only when you consider the songs OUT of context.
Listening to this longer version, the performers tell a story. It flows from beginning to end; the songs meld together effortlessly. The story of "Ragtime" is phenomenally well told, and it's a crime that so much was excised previously. I mean, how could you really appreciate this musical without "Sarah Brown Eyes"? That's one of the many songs absent on the "highlights" version.
So, if you only have the first, you NEED the full CD.
If you have the complete version, you're missing something, but not much.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Stop Listening October 12, 1999

By Curtis Munsey

Format:Audio CD

I have already reviewed this disc, but that was a long time ago, right after it came out. I just recently realized again how much I love the score to Ragtime and thought I would share my thoughts again. I only wish I could get to New York to see it again, especially now that most of the leads are those from the L.A. production I saw in 1997. Every performance on the CD is amazing and Brian Stokes Mitchell is fantastic, and feel so fortunate to have been able to see him. Audra McDonald's voice is amazing as is Marin Mazzie. I get goosebumps when I hear them. I especially love the bonus track that is the orchestral suite at the end of the CD. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty are so amazing and I can't wait for their next show to open. If anyone is debating whether or not to buy this cast recording, you should be able to tell that's it's wonderful by all the five star ratings.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Theatrical Perfection. February 26, 2003

By "hippo-potto"

Format:Audio CD

There are no words to describe what this production rouses in the listeners. Speaking as a musical theatre fan, I can say that there has never been a single show that I have heard that can compare to this. Even Sondheim's amazing "Sunday in the Park with George" pales in comparison because 'Sunday' is a selfish work of art for those involved in the arts, but Ragtime covers every economic class and every race and every creed in its influence.

E.L. Doctrow's novel, "Ragtime" is an amazing read, a sweeping epic, and this musical seems to hone into the characters and the situations even more, making them seem that much more real and believable, thus, their pain becomes ours, in songs like "Atlantic City", when father asks himself 'Say, when did they change the song?', you can hear the hopelessness of a man who doesn't know how to save his marriage, and in Coalhouse's "Make Them Hear You", you feel stirred to the very core of your soul to fight when he utters 'And I could not put down my sword when Justice was my RIGHT!', not to mention all the other great moments of this show.

There are three things that make this the greatest musical recording of our time: the music, the vocalists, and the relevance. First of all, the music is treated like various authentic pieces of music rather than interpretations, leading to a more authentic, down-to-earth feel, which is key for a show with such grand themes and stories. As well as that, just as there are themes in the story, there are themes in the music, there are certain pieces of music which will be heard more than once, bringing to you a richer emotional connection to the story-one of the best uses is the 'new music' music which creeps in every so often, bringing with it a sense of sorrow. As well as 'Ragtime', which shows up in the completely opposite sense in 'Coalhouse's Soliloquy', stirring rage and violence rather than awe and wonder as it was originally used in the opening song?

As for the vocalists are neither actors who sing, or singers who act, but rather both actors who use their voices to emote and singers who use their bodies to emote. With just their voices you know exactly who they are and what they want. Marin Mazzie as Mother is breathtaking, on songs like 'Goodbye My Love/Journey On', you can hear the trapped and confinement that many Victorian women were forced into and 'Back to Before' is one of the most gloriously delivered songs ever recorded, the CD is worth buying for this song alone, but she also has these hidden gems of performance, like at at the end of "What Kind of Woman". Audra McDonald (sp?) is glorious as Sarah, and though she only has a few songs, she delivers each note, making it count, and making Sarah seem like the young girl of 19/20 she's supposed to be as opposed to Audra McDonald's 25-ish at performance. Brian Stokes Mitchell's Coalhouse is the epitome of Male Lead. His voice is so strong and powerful; he is one of the few male leads in Broadway History who possesses a true stage presence, strong enough to hold his own against the powerhouse women he performs with, but still soft and pliable enough to strengthen and bring out the best of whomever he's singing with. On top of his showmanship as a vocalist, he also has the most amazing ability to portray Coalhouse as a lovesick man, a reformed sinner, and a justified vigilante all with a single note.

As for the relevance. This is the hardest part to write about, in modern times, with the US in the middle of a global tug-o-war, this show shows us just what gave America its strength and its character and its greatness and begs us not to forget it-while still showing us all the work we need to do with songs like "Till We Reach That Day" (Undoubtedly the best song of the entire CD), It's a powerful show, and it's not until the last notes of the show, with the entire cast singing "Well, when he is old enough, I will show him America, and he will ride, our son will ride, on the wheels of a dream!", that you grasp just how amazing North America is, forever going through tragedy and still possessing an optimism that's to be envied!

Listening to this CD, you are filled with so many emotions at once, and one of them comes from the fact that a show so amazing and relevant is lost admits the crowds of the Disney pre-packaged productions like "The Lion King" and "Aida". Ragtime is an epic, a TRUE epic, and so well crafted that it is in my eyes no longer a musical, but rather a straight play that uses music as another tool of expression.

Last Word: The Greatest Musical Ever Produced.