Unfortunately, the show did not receive the critical kudos and mass popular acceptance that it deserved during its Broadway run, but this recording adds greatly to its legacy. As adapted by librettist Terrence McNally, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, and composer Stephen Flaherty, Ragtime includes almost every vivid character and gripping plot point of the epic novel while expanding the emotions of the story with a superb score that underlines the sociological thrust of the story to great effect. Original Broadway Cast, 1998 (RCA, 2CDs) (5 / 5) This spectacular, complete recording of the Ragtime score documents what few other musicals have achieved: The show actually improves upon its source material, in this case, the best-selling novel by E.L. The recording also contains some material that didn’t make it to New York: “The Show Biz” (a song for Evelyn Nesbit and Harry Houdini) and the stirring original bridge for “The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square.” Since this album was made and released while the show was still being developed, it’s somewhat lacking in theatricality, yet there is a decided freshness about it. (Camille Saviola, this album’s Emma Goldman, was not.) In contrast to the subsequent Broadway cast album, “Songs from Ragtime” gives us only highlights of the score the show’s major musical moments, including such expertly crafted songs as “Journey On,” “Your Daddy’s Son,” “New Music,” “Wheels of a Dream,” “Till We Reach That Day,” “Back to Before,” and the more than nine-minute long “Ragtime” prologue, are performed movingly by the stellar cast. Most of the principals heard here - Brian Stokes Mitchell as Coalhouse Walker, Jr., Audra McDonald as Sarah, Marin Mazzie as Mother, Mark Jacoby as Father, Peter Friedman as Tateh, and others - were also in the Broadway production two years later. Doctorow, the musical charts the fortunes of three families living in America just after the turn of the 20th century: an upper-class WASP clan settled in New Rochelle a Jewish immigrant and his young daughter and an African-American entertainer, his lover, and their baby son. Based on the epic novel of the same title by E.L. Additional titles available in the Paramount Presents collection on Blu-ray include: Fatal Attraction, King Creole, To Catch a Thief, Flashdance, Days of Thunder, Pretty In Pink, Airplane!, Ghost, Roman Holiday, The Haunting, The Golden Child, Trading Places, The Court Jester, Love Story, Elizabethtown, The Greatest Show on Earth, Mommie Dearest, Last Train From Gun Hill, 48 HRS., Another 48 HRS., Almost Famous, A Place in the Sun, Nashville, Bugsy Malone, Breakdown, The Sheik and Vanilla Sky.“Songs from Ragtime,” 1996 (RCA) (4 / 5) One of the most precious gems of the American musical theater, Ragtime is replete with beautiful performances on this first recording of the magnificent score by Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics), which was released to coincide with the show’s world premiere in Toronto. Every Paramount Presents release features never-before-seen bonus content and exclusive collectible packaging. This collectible line spans celebrated classics to film-lover favorites, each from the studio’s renowned library.
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