Ragtime (musical)

Ragtime
Cover of cast recording
MusicStephen Flaherty
LyricsLynn Ahrens
BookTerrence McNally
BasisRagtime
by E.L. Doctorow
Productions1996 Toronto
1997 Los Angeles
1998 Broadway
1998 1st US Tour
1998 Chicago
1999 2nd US Tour
2003 West End
2009 Kennedy Center
2009 Broadway revival
2012 London revival
2013 Avery Fisher Hall concert
2016 Ellis Island concert
2016 London revival
2018 Norwegian production
2019 Australian production
2023 Reunion concert
2024 Off-Broadway
AwardsTony Award for Best Book of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Original Score

Ragtime is a musical with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by E.L. Doctorow.

Set in the early 20th century, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States: African Americans, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician; upper-class suburbanites, represented by Mother, the matriarch of a white upper-class family in New Rochelle, New York; and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. The show also incorporates historical figures such as Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Stanford White, Harry Kendall Thaw, Admiral Peary, Matthew Henson, and Emma Goldman.