| re: Can Audra 'open' a show? | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 07:10 pm EDT 10/17/24 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 07:07 pm EDT 10/17/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Can Audra 'open' a show? - Chromolume 06:04 pm EDT 10/17/24 | |
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| Mother is literally the main character of one of the 3 worlds the show focuses on and intersects. The white (WASP) family -- protagonist/lead: Mother. The black community -- protagonist/lead: Coalhouse. The Jewish immigrants -- protagonist/lead: Tateh. I think this is clearly drawn in the book and score. Come on, Chrom, Mother's internal world is the FIRST thing we hear after the opening number introducing the 3 groups. It's clear from the beginning that she is a lead. When the show shifts to bringing in the next group/thread we follow, it's Coalhouse, and when it shifts again to the 3rd major group it's Tateh. And the story is all moving around things that happen TO those 3 characters. Maybe I'm thinking too broadly? "Back to Before" isn't just a defining solo for Mother, it is a song that moves the show along AND is a defining song for the entire show. "You Daddy's Hands" is a reflective looking-back soliloquy, but it doesn't move anything forward or sum-up/define the show. Your right about me discounting (unintentionally) her part in Wheels of a Dream. Which is largely a solo for Coalhouse but does become, and technically (of course) is a duet. And I don't need much to convince them beyodn that Sarah was nominated and won for Featured... and I think it always is and always will be, and Mother is always lead. Younger Brother has a bigger role than Sarah, and is always nominated as Featured too. But yes, the way Ragtime's material works, there are 5-6 leads: Coalhouse, Mother, Tateh, Sarah, and Younger Brother, and maybe Father. I think Coalhouse has so much more than Mother in part because the entire black community, in terms of major roles in the show, are played out through Coalhouse and to a much smaller amount Sarah who, as a character, is inherently quiet (and if it wasn't for adding a big song for us to hear her internal monologue, would barely speak until Wheels of a Dream). The white family's part of the story is lead by Mother but played out through Father and Younger Brother, all in the same story and in the splintered stories of the show (ex: YB with Evelyn and Emma Goldman). Of course all 3 major groups stories intertwine, but none of the Black Community piece of it is done without Coalhouse (or Sarah). Even the immigrant piece of the pie, seen mostly through Tateh, is also divided up to Emma Goldman and Houdini too. Anyway regardless of the amount of songs each character has, or my take that "Back to Before" is a much more "this is one of the leads of the entire show" song than "Daddy's Hands", I think the story and structure of the show tell us clearly the 3 tips of each piece of this 3 piece pie are Mother, Coalhouse, and Tateh. Am I wrong? Maybe I just decided this when I first saw the show and have just always assumed it to be correct. |
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