Ragtime, the new musical by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally, will have its world premiere Dec. 8 at Toronto's Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

A recording featuring most of the original cast and nearly the entire score was chosen by many members of Playbill On-Line as their favorite theatre album of 1996.

The adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's classic novel stars 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, Camille Saviola as Emma Goldman 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. Several of the roles are performed by different actors on the recently-released recording of the score.

Tickets for the Toronto production are now on sale at (416) 872-2222.

The show is tentatively scheduled to open on Broadway in December 1997 or January 1998 at the new theatre being built on the 42nd Street site of the old Lyric and Apollo theatres.