Adam Feldman was correct in his first assessment of "Ragtime," the one he formed when he saw the Audra McDonald version: this is a regrettable, sentimentalized Cliffs Notes retelling of E.L. Doctorow's story. Feldman was right to focus on "Make Them Hear You," which seems to turn Coalhouse into an aspirational figure, when (in fact) Coalhouse is another version of Sweeney Todd. (Feldman says he has revised his opinion of the show; if he is being truthful, then he ought to think more carefully.)
When I saw "Ragtime" in Toronto, I had a "young Adam Feldman" reaction. Except that I noticed the hurricane that was Audra McDonald. By this point in her career, Audra had already won two Tony Awards. (She was about to win her third.) She had worked with her hero, Zoe Caldwell, for whom she named her first child. Caldwell had a "no bullshit" style; Audra has confessed that Caldwell would chastise her whenever she was hitting false notes. I think we (partly) owe Audra's "Ragtime" performance to Zoe Caldwell.
Tears without no comfort--
Screams without no sound.
Only darkness and pain.
The anger and pain.
The blood and the pain.
I buried my heart in the ground--
When I buried you in the ground.
Like much of the rest of Flaherty's "Ragtime," "Your Daddy's Son" is misconceived. It takes a shattering moment--an attempted infanticide--and tries to cram all of the cause-and-effect intricacies into a three-minute solo. Blink--and you'll miss it. ("Wait....did that disheveled lady just try to kill her baby?") I think Audra understands the limitations of the material--and, with her operatic delivery, she insists that you forget the writing and take a minute to really notice the character of Sarah.
The other fine moment in Audra's performance is her choice to return to the man who abandoned her. You can hear her excitement and her dread:
You and your music--
Singing deep in me.
Making nice to me.
Saying something so new--
Changing everything.
Meaning everything.
Calling my heart to you.
Play that melody--
Your sweet melody--
Calling my heart to you.
This is the one interlude in the show that makes my hair stand on end. It's a big factor in the thing that we now might call .... "The Audra McDonald Legend" .....
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