I am home from Ragtime. Well, act ONE of Ragtime, which began fifteen minutes late and which ran one hour and forty-five minutes. That was it for me, even had it been the best production of all time, which it was not. I did get to see our very own RYacko in many of his roles and they were lucky to have him. The original production was pretty great, and even helped hide what I felt were a few weaknesses in the show itself. But then, you had Brian "Stokes" Mitchell, Marcia Mitzman-Gavin, La Chanze, John Rubinstein, Jason Graae, Judy Kaye and the rest of the amazing LA company and you had Graciella Danielle's amazing work as well as the brilliantly paced direction of Frank Galati. This was about what you'd expect for having to get a show like this up in three weeks. Pacing wasn't what it needed to be (the first act really should not have run that long), and there was just a lack of clear focus for me - my opinion. The audience was mostly eating up with whooping and hollering as is the wont of today's theatergoers. Very easy to tell the pros from the non-pros. Some odd either actor or directorial choices, most especially having mother in her very first line clearly deliver that line in a way that gives her journey away at the start. Minor stuff like that. But it's forty-six people, a band of twenty, and they should be commended for even having this on its feet. The other very real problem is that once you've seen Coalhouse played by Mr. Mitchell, no one else really has a chance.
