According to the Shirley Herz press office, full casting will be announced next week (Sept. 8), but most of the cast is expected to arrive intact, including Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Mitchell was in the Toronto company and then starred in the show's Los Angeles production.
Not making the trek from Toronto to New York will be Paul Soles (Grandpa), Paul Franklin Dano (Edgar), and Camille Saviola (Emma Goldman).
According to Ragtime spokesperson Ian Rand, the latter "turned down the opportunity" to come to New York with the show. (A previous report that Livent had asked Saviola to join the Los Angeles cast instead of the Broadway production was inaccurate. Mary Gutzi, who starred as Fantine in Les Miz on Broadway, will play Emma Goldman in L.A.) Kaye won a Best Featured Actress Tony Award as the original Broadway Carlotta in Phantom Of The Opera.
In Toronto, the adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's classic novel starred Mark Jacoby (Show Boat) as Father, Marin Mazzie (Passion) as Mother, Brian Stokes Mitchell (Kiss of the Spider Woman) as Coalhouse Walker Jr., Audra McDonald (Carousel and Master Class) as Sarah, Steven Sutcliffe as Mother's Younger Brother, and Peter Friedman as Tateh.
The production is directed by Tony-Award winning Frank Galati and produced by theatre mogul Garth Drabinsky, and also features Jim Corti as Harry Houdini, Lynette Perry as Evelyn Nesbitt, Richard Allen as Booker T. Washington, Larry Daggett as Henry Ford and Vanessa Townsell-Crisp as Sarah's Friend. Not to mention Paul Soles as Grandfather, Mike O'Carroll as J.P. Morgan, David Mucci as Willie Conklin, Paul Franklin Dano as Edgar and Lea Michele as the Little Girl.
Tickets for the Broadway production of Ragtime, by Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens and Terrence McNally, are currently on sale by calling (212) 307-4100. According to spokesperson Mary Bryant, top tickets are $76 -- one dollar over the usual $75, with 50 cents going to the 42nd Street Development Project and 50 cents going "to keep the theatre up." Lowest price tickets are $31. As reported in the New York Post, a special VIP package is also available for 50 ticket-holders per performance. $125 gets the buyer a center orchestra seat, a souvenier program, private washroom facilities, complimentary beverages, coat and parcel check, a light snack, and access to a special VIP suite in the theatre's basement." Those looking for a bargain can get the VIP Suite Service for only $115 per person at Wednesday matinees. This VIP Suite Service (available Dec. 26-May 3, 1998) has already been instituted by Livent at Toronto's Pantages Theatre and other Canadian venues.
