The lives of a family of upper-class WASPs, an African-American couple and some Eastern-European Jewish immigrants intersect as they try to make a success in America.
Musical Numbers
Act One
Ragtime………………………………………………Company Goodbye, My Love………………………………….Mother Journey On………………………Father, Tateh, Mother The Crime of the Century…………….Evelyn Nesbit, Mother’s Younger Brother, Ensemble What Kind of Woman……………………………..Mother A Shtetl Iz Amereke………….Tateh, The Little Girl, Immigrants Success……….Tateh, J. P. Morgan, Harry Houdini, Ensemble Gettin’ Ready Rag……………………Coalhouse Walker Jr.,Ensemble Henry Ford…….Henry Ford, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Ensemble Nothing Like the City………………….Tateh, Mother, The Little Boy, The Little Girl Your Daddy’s Son……………………………………..Sarah New Music………………………………..Father, Mother, Mother’s Younger Brother, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Sarah, Ensemble Wheels of a Dream…..Coalhouse Walker Jr., Sarah The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square………………………Mother’s Younger Brother, Emma Goldman, Ensemble Lawrence, Massachusetts…………………..Ensemble Gliding…………………………………………………….Tateh Justice………………Coalhouse Walker Jr., Ensemble President………………………………………………….Sarah Till We Reach That Day……………….Sarah’s Friend, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Emma Goldman, Mother’s Younger Brother, Mother, Tateh, Ensemble
Act Two
Coalhouse’s Soliloquy…………Coalhouse Walker Jr. Coalhouse Demands…………………………….Company What A Game!….Father, The Little Boy, Ensemble Atlantic City…………Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Houdini New Music (Reprise)……………………………….Father Atlantic City, Part II……………………………Ensemble Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc…..Baron Ashkenazy Our Children……………..Mother, Baron Ashkenazy Sarah Brown Eyes……Coalhouse Walker Jr., Sarah He Wanted to Say…………………….Emma Goldman, Mother’s Younger Brother, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Coalhouse’s Men Back to Before………………………………………..Mother Look What You’ve Done…..Booker T. Washington, Coalhouse Walker Jr., Coalhouse’s Men Make Them Hear You………..Coalhouse Walker Jr. Ragtime (Reprise)………………………………..Company Wheels of a Dream (Reprise)………………..Company