If I’m being honest, I haven’t been in the musical theater scene for a while. I did my fair share of shows in high school, I’ve gone to one or two Muny performances in my lifetime, but I have never really kept up to date with the newest happening of Broadway until a few weeks ago. The Lincoln Center Theater released their studio recording for the “Ragtime” soundtrack featuring the 2025 revival cast on Jan. 9. 

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel of the same name, “Ragtime” features three families from different walks of American life reacting, adapting and growing as they interact with each other and the historical events of New York in the years between 1906 and 1912. The show isn’t afraid of its source material and time period. It not only acknowledges but actively focuses on both xenophobia against immigrants and racism during the American gilded age.

While it garnered mixed reviews during its original Broadway run from 1997-2000, the New York Times called the revival’s cast “glorious,” and I have to agree. If I were to list off every single role in the show that was cast perfectly, this article would be coming out in July, so I’ll start with the foremost culprit: Joshua Henry as the leading man, Coalhouse Walker Jr., makes me want to drive to New York in the middle of the school week and see the show myself. His performance and his deep, strong voice is something that I feel that Broadway has been missing for a very long time.

The story features three interweaving storylines, each one focusing on a different group of golden age New York City, each one interacting with and affecting the character arcs in the others. As mentioned, there is the ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker, representing the African Americans of New York shortly before the Harlem Renaissance, fighting to win back his lost love Sarah. Then, there is the affluent white family living in suburban New Rochelle, including the ignorant and faux-nobel Father, the compassionate but socially repressed Mother and the passionate but listless Younger Brother. Finally, there is Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania hoping to find success in America as a silhouette artist.

“Ragtime” also includes several historic characters from the time period as well, such as Evelyn Nesbit, a Vaudeville actress famous for a “Chicago”-esque legal scandal after her husband shot her lover, Anarchist activist Emma Goldman and the Black author and orator Booker T. Washington. 

Prologue: Ragtime – 7/10 

“The sound of distant thunder suddenly starting to climb…”

If you’re like me, you went into this album assuming that the show would open like “Les Miserables,” with a big booming orchestral piece and a catapult directly into the story. Instead, “Ragtime” opens very slowly, building up momentum like a steam engine, starting with a simple piano solo and a little bit of scene setting before the rest of the orchestra creeps in.

For someone listening to the album rather than watching the show, this song is helpful to introduce you to all of the major players in the show, but for someone who has listened to the show maybe 1000 times and counting since its release, the song runs the risk of being overexplanatory and pedantic. A lot of the fun of the track is found listening to it a second time, getting to hear all the different motifs from songs later on in the show, but the lyrics are mostly individual characters monologuing at you like a character synopsis on Sparknotes. 

New Music – 10/10

“Sarah, come down to me!”

“New Music” is the most streamed song of the album on Spotify, and I can certainly see why. The song begins with Colin Donnel, Caissie Levy and Ben Levi Ross as Father, Mother and Younger Brother respectively, giving a solid performance about life as you know it changing without even realizing it. 

This song is also where Joshua Henry officially steals the show from the rest of the cast as Coalhouse Walker Jr. Not only is his performance in this song musically impressive, it is a masterclass in intent and desire communicated clearly in song. He sings nearly the same line four times in a row. The notes are mostly the same, some of the words are the same, but every time he says something entirely different, running the entire spectrum of emotions, love, regret, hope and excitement in just 15 seconds. I was left entirely speechless when I first heard it. 

The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square – 9/10

“Like a firework, unexploded, wanting life but never knowing how!”

This song is one of my favorites on the album due mostly to its unique accompaniment. The entire song is driven by sharp, bright woodwinds compared to the rest of the show’s reliance on the brass section as a core part of the ragtime sound. Underneath that is the slow percussion of metal on metal, like a railway spike being driven into the ground followed by the sound of a venting steam pipe, coming together to really give the track the feeling of working in a factory at the turn of the century.

Ben Levi Ross as Younger Brother has one of my favorite arcs out of the entire cast, and this song sees him, a rich white man from the suburbs of New York City, looking for meaning in life, caught up in the rhetoric of Emma Goldman, played by Shaina Taub. Both Ross and Taub give stellar, passionate performances in their respective roles, and that’s best shown on this track.

Gliding – 8/10

“Imagine you’re fearless, and soon you won’t fear…”

This is not Brandon Uranowitz’s only solo in the show, but it still leaves me wishing he got a few more. In just under three minutes, Uranowitz as Tateh gives a frankly stunning performance in this song about fatherhood, vulnerability and keeping hope in times of hardship. Though his songs are some of the least streamed tracks on the album, I still find myself listening to this one on repeat. 

Till We Reach That Day 9/10

“She had life in her, lord, she had my baby!”

Without giving too much away, “Till We Reach That Day” is about an event that nearly comes out of nowhere in the story, and is a complete emotional gutpunch. Allison Blackwell, though an unnamed ensemble member, deserves so much credit for her solo opening this song with a haunting, Southern-Gospel style soliloquy. Again, Henry as Coalhouse delivers an absolutely gut-wrenching performance, to the point that other characters, some of which he’s never even interacted with begin to join in.

Like most songs in the show, this track starts out quiet and with very few accompanying instruments, but becomes louder and more expansive as more people start singing. This style of slow-burn crescendo works better here than it does anywhere in the show, and gives the song this feeling of pressure and tension building between and among the characters.

Overall rating – 8/10

The show has its problems for sure. The album drags in parts, the first handful of songs are a lot of character set-up for people solely interested in the music and it has an older style of accompaniment that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. With all this in mind, I would still recommend at least giving it a listen. “Ragtime” is at times heartwarming, at times emotionally devastating, and every second feels like the entire cast was pouring their entire heart into their performance. 

Staff reporter Morrigan Carey can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

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