The era of Ragtime may be running out of Broadway Jan. 16, 2000, but the reconceived national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical is still singing in bookings expected to last into 2001.

The tour's closest brush so far to New York City will be Jan. 12-30 (the same period that will see the Broadway company close) at The Bushnell in Hartford, CT.

When the oversize national tour was found to be economically impractical for touring in 1998 (as the Broadway company was deemed too costly to continue in Manhattan in 1999), Pace Theatricals reduced the size of the tour’s scenic elements and generally made the show more intimate and actor-driven.

The national touring company includes Lawrence Hamilton as Coalhouse Walker Jr., Jim Corti as Tateh, Cathy Wydner as Mother, Lovena Fox as Sarah, Stephen Zinnato as Father, Cyndi Neal as Emma Goldman, Aloysius Gigl as Mother's Younger Brother, Jacqueline Bayne as Evelyn Nesbit, Allan Louis as Booker T. Washington, Eric Olson as Harry Houdini and Ryan O'Connell as The Little Boy.

Tickets for the Bushnell engagement are $21.50-$60. The theatre, which opened in 1930, is at 166 Capitol Avenue, in Hartford. Call (860) 987-5900 for information.