“Ragtime” On Broadway

Every time I read about the “Spiderman” fiasco, I think of another show I saw at the same theatre on Broadway.  It was the antithesis of “Spiderman”.

It was “Ragtime”.

It was a big show with a lot of heart and a lot of talent-both on and off stage.

The opening number was one of the best I’ve ever seen in any show…

The cast was amazing:  Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald and very young, pre-Glee Lea Michelle playing the little emigrant girl.  And many more Broadway names…

It was truly a big show and it filled that huge theatre…

And it was damn good.  If the company producing it, Livenet, had not gone bankrupt for totally unrelated reasons, I think it could have run for years…

Here is the opening number:

And Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald’s big number:

And here is a compilation of clips from the PBS Special.  I wish there was a full clip of Marin Mazzie singing “Back to Before.”  She was riveting….