Curtain Comes Down on Sad 'Ragtime' Band

Before the Dec. 28 evening performance of “Ragtime," the show's producers asked the cast to assemble on the stage of the Neil Simon Theatre for the dreaded announcement that always turns Broadway dreams to cinders: The lovingly crafted musical would have to shut its doors for good Jan. 10.

The producers offered affectionate valedictories, and some of the lead actors, like Christiane Noll and Quentin Earl Darrington, spoke rousingly too. “I told them that they should be proud of what they did," said Emanuel Azenberg, one of the show's lead producers. “I told them, 'You put this experience on the resume of your soul.' It was emotional. They were all gracious, and there were a lot of tears."

Those tears might have been shed not only over the brief Broadway life of the $8.5-million revival -- birthed last April at the Kennedy Center and reopened at the Neil Simon in November -- but also over the death of a passel of assumptions about what can survive these days on the treach- erous shoals of Times Square.

For what lingered after the closing notice went up was a sense that, whatever shortcomings “Ragtime" might possess, the production merited a better fate -- and might even have received one, at another time. Its early demise prompted questions about what's required to bring audiences in when the top ticket price is a whopping $126.50, meaning that on an evening out, a family of four might shell out more than $500 for prime seats in the theater.

The premature death -- and a loss of the show's entire investment -- raised another issue, about the nature of what might appear to flourish in one city and perish in another. Because this production will be remembered as having been a buoyant success in Washington, and an honorable failure in New York.

The autopsy for a Broadway show can be twisted almost any way you want, depending on what you want it to indicate: that the marketing strategy emphasized the wrong aspects of the show; that the ads were beautiful but sent a confusing signal; that the reviews just weren't strong enough; that the material's serious themes and dramatic design didn't jibe with contemporary popular tastes; that only brand-name stars put fannies in seats at these prices anymore.