Rachel Zegler, Audra McDonald, Hillary Clinton, and More Celebrate the Broadway Revival of ‘Ragtime’

On Thursday night, Manhattan buzzed with a fresh melody as Lincoln Center Theater’s magnificent revival of Ragtime marked its grand opening.

As guests entered the illustrious Vivian Beaumont Theater for the production—helmed by Lear deBessonet, LCT’s newly appointed Kewsong Lee Artistic Director—they were graced by the presence of stars like Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, who originally starred together in Ragtime’s debut Broadway run in 1998; Rachel Zegler, who recently dazzled in Evita; alongside Danielle Brooks, Phillipa Soo, Jasmine Cephas Jones, and Hillary Clinton.

Adapted by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens from E. L. Doctorow’s acclaimed 1975 novel, Ragtime explores the intertwined lives of a wealthy white family, a Black pianist and his beloved, and a Latvian widower during the turn of the 20th century in New Rochelle. DeBessonet assembled a remarkable cast to narrate the stories of American dreamers for a contemporary audience, featuring Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz, Nichelle Lewis, Colin Donnell, and Shaina Taub.

For deBessonet, the original staging of Ragtime—which she witnessed as a college freshman—“embodied this epic essence around movements of people and historical events while also embracing deeply personal narratives with significant emotional depth.” She shared her thoughts with Leslie Camhi in Vogue’s October issue. “Experiencing how music serves to express the tangible pain and aspirations of history was profoundly revolutionary for me. I thought, That’s the kind of theater I aspire to create.” Clearly, with her own stirring rendition of Ragtime, deBessonet has achieved just that.