Brian Stokes Mitchell, Brandon Victor Dixon Join Ragtime!

In riches, and rags,
And in rhythm and rhyme
The people called it Ragtime!

Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, currently of Shuffle Along, will star in the one-night-only concert of Ragtime on Ellis Island, August 8th. Mitchell originated the role of pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr., in the 1998 original Broadway production, which earned him his first Tony nomination. This time, he’ll narrate the evening’s performance.

He passes the torch on to Brandon Victor Dixon (Shuffle Along, The Scottsboro Boys), recently announced as the new Aaron Burr in Hamilton. Aisha Jackson, currently in Waitress, will play his tragic lover, Sarah.

Adapted from the novel by E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime fuses three stories of three different groups in early 20th-century America: the white upper-class suburbanites, Black Americans, and the Eastern European immigrants. Various real-life historical figures appear throughout.

The performance, directed by Sammi Cannold, is billed as a “developmental concert” by invite-only, and will feature a selection of songs from the Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty score. In this immersive experience, audiences take a private ferry from Battery Park to Ellis Island, explore the museum exhibits in the main building after the show, and take the ferry back to Battery Park, passing the Statue of Liberty against the nighttime NYC skyline.

The rest of the company includes Laura Michelle Kelly (Mother), Andy Mientus (Younger Brother), Michael Park (Father), Robert Petkoff (Tateh), Shaina Taub (Emma Goldman), Georgia Engel (Houdini’s Mother), Bradley Gibson (Matthew Henson), Cooper Grodin (Harry K. Thaw), Joe Harkins (Grandfather), Phillip Paul Kelly (Admiral Peary), Hudson Loverro (Edgar), Jeremy Morse (Harry Houdini), Elexis Morton (Sarah’s Friend), Annie Sherman (Evelyn Nesbit), Rod Singleton (Booker T. Washington), Phillip Slade Smith (J.P. Morgan), and Aviva Winick (The Little Girl).

David Andre, Kyra Atekwana, Douglas Baldeo, Matt DaSilva, Dwelvan David, Tess Davison, Vincent D’Elia, Alison England, Louis Lagalante, Drew Martin, Abena Mensah-Bonsu, Christopher Michael McLamb, Monet, Chelsea Moss, Marilyn O’Connell, Robert Poole, Sam Simahk, Melina Soberg, Nadia Soberg, Ali Stoner, Franca Vercelloni, Aurelia Williams, Jessica Tyler Wright, Katherine Wright, Jaden Waldman, and Carly Waldma round out the ensemble cast.

The original Broadway production opened in 1998 at the Ford Center of the Performing Arts (now the Lyric Theatre), directed by Frank Galati. Subsequently, it received thirteen Tony nominations, winning four including Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Audra McDonald, Original Score, Book, and Orchestrations. A revival, starring Quentin Earl Darrington, opened on Broadway in 2009.

For more information about the experience, visit Ragtime on Ellis.