Ragtime School Edition

School Edition

The original score has been transposed down slightly in some places to accommodate younger voices
The dialogue about Evelyn Nesbit has been cut from "Admiral Peary's March"
A gesture of racism has been added between the First Officer of Admiral Peary's ship and Father during "Journey On"
The Chorines and Sob Sisters in "Crime of the Century" have been replaced by the Jurors and the Press
Henry Ford is given a dialogued introduction similar to that of other characters at the top of the song "Henry Ford"
The end of the "Lawrence, Massachusetts" scene in which Tetah gets hit in the head and stumbles toward the train has been cut
The version of "He Wanted to Say" included in the original script as an alternate, is used as the preferred version here
The short scene at the end of "Look What You've Done (Part 3)" in which the characters shout what will be lost if the library is destroyed has been cut
Throughout the script a number of additional stage directions and/or notes have been added to guide the creative team

A sweeping musical portrait of early 20th century America tells the story of three families in pursuit of the American Dream.

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Written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once On This Island, Seussical, Lucky Stiff), noted playwright Terrence McNally, and based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, Ragtime was the winner of the 1998 TONY Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score and has now been adapted for high school performers. Called by Time Magazine "A triumph for the stage," and by the International Herald Tribune "the best musical in twenty years," Ragtime School Edition is filled with pageantry, emotion and hope, bursting onto the stage like no other musical.

At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing… and anything is possible. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, three distinctly American tales are woven together -- that of a stifled upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician -- united by their courage, compassion and belief in the promise of the future. Together they confront history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America.

Ragtime School Edition has become a favorite of schools across the country and a valuable teaching tool with which educators can discuss such issues as class and prejudice, social conditions, immigration and the history of America itself. The show's many characters offer opportunities for many performers and the vocal arrangements are slightly rearranged for student voices.

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