Changes Cast a New Light on ‘Ragtime’

Kingsley Leggs does some of the best stage crying I have ever seen. Leggs plays Coalhouse Walker in “Ragtime,” replacing Brian Stokes Mitchell at the Shubert Theatre. In the funeral that ends Act 1 of the epic musical, Leggs gives us a man whose sobbing adds a new layer of understanding to the violence that follows. Leggs makes Coalhouse’s tragedy more personal than political. When a fellow mourner touches his heaving shoulder, Leggs’ Coalhouse looks at him as if surprised to still find a world outside his despair. Gracious, he smiles but is engulfed in dark sobs again a moment later.

Mitchell left Los Angeles to join the Broadway company, which is now in previews, as did the excellent Judy Kaye, who played Emma Goldman here. With his majestic elegance and implacable pride, Mitchell’s Coalhouse was the stone center of the show, embodying a great and fierce country in which things could go terribly wrong and yet still inspire magnificent hopes for the future. Leggs is less prideful, less imperious in both physical stature and nature, but he’s warmer. So, while Mitchell highlighted the character’s maimed dignity, Leggs opens the window on his sorrow. You can climb in that way too.

“Ragtime” is in terrific shape still. If possible, LaChanze seems even more radiant in the role of Sarah, Coalhouse’s love, and John Rubinstein’s performance as the Russian immigrant Tateh is richer as well. Mary Gutzi is solid as the new Emma. In an easily overlooked performance as the show’s one-note villain Willie Conklin, Wade Williams laces his character’s assembly-line sneering with a perceptible dose of self-hatred and doubt, a nice shading.

As always, the large choral numbers are hair-raising, particularly at the end of the opening number and in the funeral lament that closes Act 1. Over-amplification mars Marcia Mitzman Gavin’s “Back to Before.” Crescendos shouldn’t hurt our ears. As before, the second act threatens to topple from anthems of the oppressed. A good song is almost lost in the penultimate scene, when Coalhouse sings “Make Them Hear You” to disband his angry men. It’s one stirring call too many for an anthem-drenched audience.

Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, the show--by Lynn Ahrens (lyrics), Steve Flaherty (music), Terrence McNally (book), Frank Galati (direction) and Graciela Daniele (choreography)--brushes its magic across its broad themes, urging us to cry for individual characters and for the larger social fabric into which their stories are woven. That fabric is intact, with some new embroidery, at the Shubert Theatre.

* “Ragtime,” Shubert Theatre, 2020 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m.; Wednesdays, 1:30 p.m. Also, Dec. 28, 8 p.m. Ends March 8. $35-$75. (800) 447-7400. Running time: 3 hours.