Friday, April 28, 2023, 7:30pm
Saturday, April 29, 2023, 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 30, 2023, 2 pm
Cincinnati Music Hall

Buy Tickets

Note from the Director

Seeing the film version of Ragtime when I was in the 11th grade at Cincinnati’s School for Creative and Performing Arts is what inspired me to make the decision to try to become a professional actor. Many years later, when I first heard that there would be a musical version of Ragtime, my prayers were to be a part of it in any capacity! Twenty-six years ago, I was cast as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Toronto for its pre-Broadway run with the original cast for their final eight months before the show came to Broadway! It was a dream come true, and, now, to both direct and star in the Cincinnati Pops production in my hometown takes that dream to new heights. I do not have enough words to describe how much this show and its many beautiful messages about humanity, love and family mean to me. Ragtime is a captivating tale with real-life historical figures written into the story, brilliant thought-provoking lyrics and some of the most glorious music ever written for the stage—music that just so happens to be written by Stephen Flaherty, who attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. I studied there as well, and, although we missed each other by a few years, I am very happy to have had the pleasure of working with him and his stunning talent. For the symphonic version of the show, some of the most offensive language in the script has been removed, but that which remains is vital in depicting the truth of the time and a measure both of how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Many of the themes in Ragtime are as relevant today as they were at the turn of the 20th century, and the beauty of this magnificent piece of theatre is its educational value and enlightenment as to how much we all have in common, as opposed to our differences. I think of Ragtime as the kind of phenomenal experience you didn't realize how much you needed until you received it. Enjoy the journey!

RAGTIME In Concert
JOHN MORRIS RUSSELL, conductor 
ALTON FITZGERALD WHITE, director

Book by TERRENCE McNALLY
Music by STEPHEN FLAHERTY
Lyrics by LYNN AHRENS

Based on the novel Ragtime by E. L. DOCTOROW

Original orchestrations by William David Brohn, 
additional orchestrations by Kim Scharnberg 

Ragtime in Concert was created for the Boston Pops, in honor of Keith Lockhart’s 25th Anniversary with support from the Cincinnati Pops and Arts Commons, the Calgary Philharmonic, and Theatre Calgary.

Ragtime In Concert is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). 
All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. mtishows.com

ACT I
Opening/Ragtime.....Full Company
Goodbye, My Love.....Mother
Journey On.....Father, Tateh, Mother
Evelyn’s Introduction
The Crime of the Century.....Evelyn Nesbit, Mother’s Younger Brother, Ensemble
What Kind of Woman.....Mother
A Shtetl Iz Amereke (Ellis Island).....Tateh, The Little Girl, Immigrants
Success.....Tateh, The Little Girl, J.P. Morgan, Harry Houdini, Ensemble
His Name Was Coalhouse Walker.....Coalhouse Walker Jr., Ensemble
The Gettin’ Ready Rag.....Coalhouse Walker Jr., Ensemble
Henry Ford.....Henry Ford, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Ensemble
Nothing Like the City.....Tateh, Mother, The Little Boy, The Little Girl
Your Daddy’s Son.....Sarah
New Music.....Father, Mother, Younger Brother, Sarah, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Ensemble
The Wheels of a Dream.....Coalhouse Walker Jr., Sarah

INTERMISSION

ACT II
Entr’acte
The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square.....Mother’s Younger Brother, Emma Goldman, Ensemble
Gliding.....Tateh
The Trashing of the Car/President.....Sarah
Till We Reach That Day.....Sarah’s Friend, Full Company
Coalhouse’s Soliloquy.....Coalhouse Walker Jr.
What a Game.....Father, The Little Boy, Ensemble
Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc......Baron Ashkenazy (Tateh)
Our Children.....Mother, Baron Ashkenazy (Tateh)
Sarah Brown Eyes.....Coalhouse Walker Jr., Sarah
He Wanted to Say.....Emma Goldman, Younger Brother, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Coalhouse’s Men
Back to Before.....Mother, Ensemble
Make Them Hear You.....Coalhouse Walker Jr.
Epilogue: Ragtime.....Full Company

(in order of appearance)

Little Boy ..... PAUL HAHN
Father ..... RON BOHMER
Mother ..... ASHLEY BROWN
Mother’s Younger Brother ..... NICHOLAS PATTARINI
Grandfather ..... BRIAN RICHARDSON
Coalhouse Walker Jr ..... ALTON FITZGERALD WHITE
Sarah ..... NIKKI RENÉE DANIELS
Booker T. Washington ..... DEONDRA MEANS=
Tateh ..... MARK DAVID KAPLAN
Little Girl ..... MAGGIE ZINK
Harry Houdini ..... JACKSON REAGIN
J.P. Morgan ..... ALLEN R. MIDDLETON
Henry Ford ..... JOSHUA STEELE
Emma Goldman ..... KLEA BLACKHURST
Evelyn Nesbit ..... HALEY ROOT
Sarah’s Friend ..... ERICA GABRIEL

ENSEMBLE

Members of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Musical Theatre Program, Ian Axness and Diane Lala, directors

Ryan Behan
Essence Bell
Amanda Bishop
Ranease Brown
Andrew Burke
Brian Ho Pui Cheung
Matthew Danforth
Kristen Das
Mackenzie Duan
Annalese Fusaro
Nick Gundrum
Zoey Johnson
Annika Jonker
Dan Klimko
Amelia Lamb
JT Langlas
Tate McElhaney
Zoe Mezoff
Tomi Newman
Madison Osment
Sean Polk
Stanislav Przedlacki
Makayla Shipe
Declan Smith
Spencer Stanley

Members of the American Spiritual Ensemble
Dr. Everett McCorvey, founder and director

La’Shelle Allen
Dr. Jeryl Cunningham-Fleming
Jonathan Green
Martin Hargrove
Courtney Porter
Marquita Richardson
Nathaniel Thompson
Dr. John Wesley Wright