Ragtime Reunion Concert Removed From PBS Fall Schedule

Last year's one-night-only Ragtime reunion concert, a benefit for The Entertainment Community Fund, will not air on PBS this fall after all.

Although a PBS spokesperson previously confirmed to Playbill that broadcasts would begin November 29, the Entertainment Community Fund told Playbill in a statement November 21, “The Entertainment Community Fund had hoped to announce that PBS would broadcast the film version of the March 2023, 25th anniversary concert of Ragtime this December. Unfortunately, there are many moving parts and we are not able to bring it to PBS at this time.”

No further information was given on if or when the broadcast will occur. This is the second time that there was a potential date for a release of the Ragtime concert, only for it to be cancelled at the last minute (the concert was originally going to be released in cinemas in March).

Filmed at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre in 2023, the event reunited much of the Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty-Terrence McNally musical's iconic original cast, including Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Peter Friedman. Kelli O'Hara joined the company as Mother, stepping in for the late Marin Mazzie. Also featured was a special appearance from the production's original Little Girl and Little Boy, Lea Michele and Alex Strange.

See highlights from the performance above.

READ: On the Wheels of a Dream: The Making of Broadway’s Ragtime

The cast also includes Mark Aldrich, Shaun Amyot, John D. Baker, Jack Baumrind, Darlene Bel Grayson, Dara Paige Bloomfield, Sandra M. Bonitto, Sherry Boone, Jack Casey, Mark Cassius, Jamie Chandler-Torns, Albert Christmas, Jim Corti, Pierce Cravens, Larry Daggett, Bernard Dotson, Roberta Duchak, Donna Dunmire, Duane Martin Foster, Patty Goble, Elisa Heinsohn, David Hess, Adam Hunter, Mark Jacoby, Kimberly JaJuan, Anne Kanengeiser, Judy Kaye, Mary Sharon Komarek (Dziedzic), Joe Langworth, Kai Latorre, Joe Locarro, Dan Manning, Michael X. Martin, Mary McCandless, Anne L. Nathan, Lynnette Perry, Orgena Rose, Gordon Stanley, Steven Sutcliffe, Addyson Evelyn Tabankin, Keith Thomas, Todd Thurston, Vanessa Townsell-Crisp, Allyson Tucker, Rema Webb, Leon Williams, Bruce Winant, and Eric Jordan Young.

Based on the classic American novel by E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime has a score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once On This Island, Anastasia, Seussical) and a book by Terrence McNally (Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!).

Ragtime underwent a two-year gestation under the auspices of Garth Drabinsky, opening in Toronto in December 1996 and then in Los Angeles in June 1997 before arriving on Broadway. The production was directed by Tony winner Frank Galati with choreography by Graciela Daniele. The musical recently played a gala engagement at New York City Center, in a production directed by Lear DeBessonet and starring Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz, and more.

READ: Standing Ovations, Tears, and a New Syncopation—Inside the One-Night-Only Ragtime Reunion Concert

The musical mixes fictional characters and historical ones in telling the story of Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Black man who buys a Model T Ford, setting off a chain of events that involve all levels of New York City society—along with magician Harry Houdini, industrialist Henry Ford, celebrity Evelyn Nesbit, Black leader Booker T. Washington, architect Sanford White, revolutionary Emma Goldman, Admiral Peary, a Latvian immigrant who becomes a movie director, and a not-so-quiet family in suburban New Rochelle, New York.

The original Broadway production featured a cast led by Audra McDonald as Sarah, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Coalhouse Walker Jr., Marin Mazzie as Mother, Mark Jacoby as Father, Steven Sutcliffe as Mother's Younger Brother, Peter Friedman as Tateh, Judy Kaye as Emma Goldman, Jim Corti as Harry Houdini, Lynette Perry as Evelyn Nesbit, Tommy Hollis as Booker T. Washington, and Larry Daggett as Henry Ford.

The musical was nominated for 14 1998 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It took home four awards, including Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Featured Actress in a Musical for McDonald, and Best Orchestrations for William David Brohn.

The Entertainment Community Fund is a national human services organization that fosters stability and resiliency, and provides a safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals over their lifespan.