was Ragtime the last great american musical?
Posted by: Chazwaza 06:08 pm EDT 11/01/24
In reply to: re: Caissie Levy - adeliciaboy 09:58 pm EDT 10/31/24

I've often wondered this, and I wondered it when I saw it with the original cast on Broadway (as a wee teenager).

Not that there haven't been many amazing musicals since 1998... though not all that many, considering it's been 26 years. But in terms of what we think of and mean when we say "great american musical" (maybe it needs the word "classic" in there?), I think it's possible Ragtime was the end, and the fact that it was only made possible by a creatively-minded visionary producer who turned out to be a crook that sunk that production's chances at profit... really says all you could hope to about it being the last great American musical, almost as if it was written in a fictional novel about america and broadway. (Not to mention the poetic irony that Ragtime lost Best Musical to The Lion King).

**Again, there were several great and big American musicals after... everything from Hairspray, The Producers, Avenue Q, Book of Mormon, In the Heights, Wicked, even something like Caroline or Change or The Wild Party are part of this discussion... but none of them have the kind of score and sweep of Ragtime.
Maybe I'm just clouded by how much it is literally about America, and my love of the score. That may be it. But I think the show and its original production were symbolic in a few ways that are very interesting to note.
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Next: Yes, Ragtime the last *classic* great American musical - GrumpyMorningBoy 08:45 pm EDT 11/01/24
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