I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the fact that Ragtime is over. Luckily I’ve been keeping busy – I’m currently directing a show for the musical theater class (shameless plug: next Monday in Reynolds), so I haven’t had much free time to do any super-serious reflection.
Normally at this point after a show is over, I would put it on my list of things to not talk about. I would remove every Ragtime song from my iPod, glare at anyone who made reference to it, and generally just not want to think about it for another couple of months. In fact, it’s been about a year since Aida and I still can’t listen to the music. I only recently started listening to Company again. But today “Wheels of a Dream” came on (thanks to shuffle), and I didn’t skip it. I sang along. I enjoyed it.
Which caused a kind of cognitive dissonance I wasn’t really prepared to handle on so little sleep. Did I like Ragtime more than the other shows I’ve been involved with? That can’t be it. Ahrens and Flaherty did a pretty good job, but my heart belongs to Sondheim. If I spent five months not listening to my favorite musical, I doubt that the quality of Ragtime was what kept me from hitting the ‘next’ button.
I think that one possibility was I wasn’t in a lot of the songs, so maybe I just didn’t get as much exposure to them. But I think the main thing is that I didn’t get sick of performing it. Even on the second Saturday, when before the two performances I took a two hour long German test, I wasn’t tired of it. I looked forward to doing the show every day, and in many ways I miss it. Let’s not kid ourselves, I mostly miss those glasses.
All joking aside, though, I loved the opportunity to play Emma. I loved being her for three hours a day. I loved that people who came to see the show saw me as being like her, because she is truly an incredible woman. The thing that I had in Ragtime that I didn’t have in any other show I’ve done was a complete and utter admiration of and love for my character. I would play her again in a heartbeat, and that’s something that’s never been true before.
I guess one of the most important things I learned in Ragtime was that it’s great if you can live your character, but it’s even better if you can love them. I loved Emma, and it made the show so much more rewarding. And besides that, I don’t have to blacklist Ragtime on my iTunes.
PS – I miss you guys like crazy.
Lindsay, as someone who, as a powerhouse alto, would have been considered for the role of Emma, I appreciate your deep affection for the character in a very particular way. I must say that one of my favorite images from the production photos is the one that catches you in mid “Wheeee!” from the opening number. In that one snapshot, the photographer captured both the physical, emotional, and intellectual authenticity you brought to the role.
You weren’t the only one whose historical character had particular present-day resonances (J.P. Morgan was the other that immediately leaps to mind) but McNally, Ahrens and Flaherty decided to give Emma a bit more dramaturgical flesh than Morgan. In that way, I think we can see–through her narration and action–the kind of upheaval that defines the plotline of the show. Although McNally makes a strong and legitimate case for not having the “He Wanted to Say” song, it was always one of my favorites, particularly for the way it concludes Emma’s narrator function in Younger Brother’s story arc. (Not to mention those utterly beautiful harmonies!) One wonders what kind of show it would have been if all those narrative voices had been filtered through just Emma, Booker T., and J.P. Morgan. What an interesting trio of perspectives on the three families that would have made.
Thanks for bringing so many perspectives (acting/singing, set building, HoofNHorn admin) to your work on this show. I think I mentioned my personal belief in the benefit of a “do it all” liberal arts theater education approach in a comment on your first post about the construction of Coalhouse’s car. Congratulation on your election as the new president of Hoof N Horn. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge and a lot said about relations between Theater Studies and Hoof N Horn (past-present-future) throughout this process. It would be nice to keep each other in sight and mind in the next year. Certainly as a dramaturg, I have a vested interest in cultivating connections, sharing ideas about outreach (especially to the Durham community, public schools, etc.), and doing everything possible to raise the profile of the performing arts at Duke. I hope we can keep in touch and brainstorm about ways to make those things possible and productive in the near future.