![]() In her lyrics and very spare dialogue, Ms. Flaherty's lush, melodic music goes native. Galati, a director of exquisite taste, strips away sentimentality and cheap optimism." "'I'm a major self-flagellator,' McNally admits. And in presenting his new show in his brand-new theater, he is himself the star of a high-stakes epic going on in the wings." "The accomplished theater producer is also a high-rolling entrepreneur. Doctorow, including profiles and reviews, from the archives of The New York Times. "When you write a book, it's living in the language of the book and there's no way out except through the last "The presumption that someone in my trade makes is that the language is the music," Doctorow said. It would be intimidating if he weren't so friendly about it. He never seems to grope for words or reach for images, and hisĮyes stay locked on the person he is speaking with. He speaks in a soft, slow cadence, pausing frequently to form whole sentences in his mind and then letting them flow out, calmly, fully formed. "It creates very strong feelings and illumination."Īs he spoke, Doctorow played absentmindedly with the foam clinging to the side of his cappuccino cup in a cafe around the corner from his Greenwich Village home. "I can see now, as a result of this experience, that it is a very powerful medium," he said. With fictional archetypes that pulsed with the rhythm of a Scott Joplin rag. Then, a few years ago, the producer Garth Drabinsky approached him and asked about mounting a new, $10 million musical based on Doctorow's most popular novel, "Ragtime," a turn-of-the-century epic mixing historical figures I was never taken with the possibilities." "But as a form, I always thought it tended to be a repository of stock sentiments. "I like 'Guys and Dolls,"' he said after some consideration. Doctorow never had much use for musicals. Doctorow reading from the novel, for about 20 seconds then you'll hear the beginning of the musical.ĮW YORK - E.L. Doctorow and members of the creative team discuss interpretation, collaboration, and the making of "Ragtime."Ĭompare the opening moments of "Ragtime": First you'll hear E.L. "Ragtime" the novel and the beginning of "Ragtime: The Musical."ĭecem'Ragtime' Author Has Learned to Hear Music's VoiceĮ.L. Doctorow, the creators of the musical "read my book very well - they gave it a very legitimate reading." Below, more about that collaboration, a Who's Who of the creative team, and a comparison between the beginning of
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