[gummibear]

I was just in a student production of Ragtime! It was great! (the script was not changed at all) I was an immigrant. Who were you?

[wicked_diva]

I just finished a professional production of it in May. I was in the immigrant ensemble, and played Kathleen (the Irish maid), 2nd Beaurocrat, a worker, the welfare official, and a vigil woman.

[broadwaybaby1310]

I was Mother in my high school's production. It was at Northmont High School in Clayton, OH and we got to perform at the International Thespian Society's Ohio State Conference in fornt of 1500 people who really love theater! The energy from the audience was amazing!

[wicked_diva]

For those of you who have done Ragtime, you obviously know it is quite a controversial/meaty show. How was your show received by your community?

[broadwaybaby1310]

Really well! Becuse we are a high school and our community is fiarly conservative, we cut out the n-word (except in one song) and replaced it with other words, like "colored", or "boy" (said really insultingly). If you didn't know that we had changed the words, you never would have guessed.

When we performed at State Conference (see my note above) we replaced the n-word in a few places because we thought that the audience would be able to handle it.

In front of our community, we didn't want the n-word to distract from the meaning of the show. We wanted people to focus on the message of the song/scene rather than saying "Ooo, there goes [insert name of kid playing the part] saying the n-word."

[Eponine93]

broadwaybaby1310, did you do the school version? If you did, were there any major cuts?

I'd love to do the school version at my school but my community is 75% white and about 25% Asian or Indian. We did Ragtime at our local community theatre a few years ago, but there was lots of trouble finding black men. The casting went along the lines of: "Your name is Lopez, let's just pretend you're really black". The older people involved in the show even went as far as going up to African American men in public places and saying, "You're a man. You're black. I'm sure you can sing... Do you want to be in a show? Do you have any friends?"

[snowhite880]

[broadwaybaby1310]

[wicked_diva]

We had an amazing group of African-American men, but we wound up with only two women in it other than Sarah (one other got kicked out).

The reason why I asked how the show was received was because my production was in OK, which naturally is on the more conservative side, but we got a standing ovation from a mostly to completely full house every single performance for six weeks, which surprised me. (I must say, I got very snobby about it, and had a running monologue going during bows if the audience was not already on their feet by the time I entered the stage for bows.

[musicaltheatrefan]

I did Ragtime last fall and I was little boy. It was an amazing show. It was at a professional theatre in a urban city (not telling where that is) so we kept all of the profanity. We live in a community where there are many blacks and we did the show 4 years ago so we had some of the same people (same Mother, Father, Willie Conklin, Little Girl) from the last show. Ragtime is one of my favorite shows. So, then I auditioned for a different productionof Ragtime and I didn't get the part of Little Boy. I don't get it. The boy who got it was 6 years old! He couldn't sing and couldn't remember his lines. There were only 3 of us at the audition. And the other boy got the understudy and he mumbles when he sings. I was the oldest of the 3 but I was the only one that could sing, act, dance (and bonus: I had knowledge of the show and I could do a New Rochelle accent). The little girl, was IMHO miscast as well. She was 8 and Korean. Now, I'm not trying to be racist but color-blind is good, except when the show deals with racial issues. I have only met 1 Korean Jew in my whole life and she had a Korean mother and Jewish father. And the girl who got the understudy was 5. The girl who should have got it (was great at singing, acting, dancing, and not that it's necessary but actually was Jewish. But, she was 13) . The girl who played mother was 20, too young, did not at all remind me of the mother in my show. The Father was younger than the younger brother in my show. Overall, I think that whole production was sucky but I'm happy that I was in a good one.

Also, the Tateh couldn't pronounce any of the Yiddish, including the all-important phrase, "Amekhaye Khlebn". He said "America Klubin".

Even I, who didn't have to memorize A Shtetl Iz Amereke, did and know it perfectly.

[dantheman]

Uh...

Were you the little boy or not?

[musicaltheatrefan]

I was the little boy last fall, but this spring I auditioned for a different production of Ragtime. Sorry, I guess I could have made that clearer.

[jazzyspazz]

I was in the harlem ensemble and one of Coalhouse's men in the 2nd Act. My favorite line..."PUSH THE PLUNGER!! BLOW IT ALL UP!!"

[ILoveToSing2010]

I am Currently Sarah's Friend in my High Schools Production!!!! And I'm white. The whole cast is white. There is a very small percent of blacks in my school and they wouldn't want to do the musical. .

[wicked_diva]

Please tell me you're kidding. Why is your director still doing the show, then? You absolutely cannot do Ragtime with an all-white cast. This is why if there is one show high schools shouldn't do, it's Ragtime.

[LittleRedLovesTheater]

Two years ago I played Kathleen [Irish maid, woot lol], a member of New Rochelle, an immigrant, a vactioner in Atlantic City, and a man during the "What a Game!" scene. lol. that was the most fun song EVER! haha.

[ILoveToSing2010]

^ SO LUCKY!!!!!!! You got to be in "What a Game" Guys always get the fun songs!

[LittleRedLovesTheater]

yeah! lol. it was the best. they didn't have enough guys & the director goes "Who wants to be in What A-" & immediatly me & like 3 other girls jump up and start screaming "MEEEEEE!" lol. so it was fun. we got to act like we beat each other up & jump over our stools & the quick change from dresses to flannel & jeans was amazing lol

[templecat2]

I was Emma Goldman in our production of Ragtime this spring, which was really awesome b/c in real life, my first name is one syllable off, and my last name is the same. It was definately weird the times I had to speak in 3rd person, I kept almost saying my name. Sadly we're not related. I checked.

We had the same problem too about diversity b/c our school is pretty small and not many black people generally audition for school shows. That turned it into a really big controversy among the student body, and there were a lot that thought we shouldn't havae done it. In the end, we only had one other black person as an ensemble member, besides Coalhouse, Sarah, and Sarah's Friend. Still, the show managed to be a huge success, even though the audience was adults and actors' friends from other schools most of the times. I don't think many ppl from our school came to see it, which is sad. Oh well. But it was a ton of fun.

[CassieMusic]

I was in the student version
I was cast as Sarah's Friend *eye rolls*

[ILoveToSing2010]

^ What wrong with sarah's friend? She is one of the best parts.

[kaplonski]

it is a great role, you can do a lot with it.

I wasn't in it, I missed the audition. But i was asked to be the vocal coach. That was fun

Though when I asked the director who I would have been cast as if I had auditioned, she said either Tateh or Father.


We did it at our local high school, and as for the community...well, we live in a rather backwater place and I thought people would be upset. but the community really loved it; it was the school's principal who was the only one who had any problem with it. So, we ended up with a censored version of the script which the cast was not at all happy with...but they channeled that into their performance and I think that made it that much better.