Rags is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein (with revisions by David Thompson), lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and music by Charles Strouse.
Production history
The Broadway production opened on August 21, 1986, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre with little advance sale and to mostly indifferent reviews, and it closed after only four performances (and 18 previews). Directed by Gene Saks and choreographed by Ron Field, the cast included Teresa Stratas as Rebecca Hershkowitz, Larry Kert as Nathan Hershkowitz, Lonny Price as Ben, Judy Kuhn as Bella Cohen, Dick Latessa as Avram Cohen, Marcia Lewis as Rachel Halpern, and Terrence Mann as Saul, a trade union organizer. Despite its failure, it garnered a good deal of attention during the awards season, receiving Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, among others.
In 1991, Sony released a studio recording of the score. It featured most of the original cast joined by Julia Migenes replacing Stratas.
Revised versions
The creators reunited to present a dramatically rewritten and severely streamlined production at The American Jewish Theatre, New York City, which opened on December 2, 1991, directed by Richard Sabellico. This version had 9 actors playing all of the roles, featuring Ann Crumb as Rebecca and Crista Moore as Bella, and a reduced set, with two pushcarts on stage and imaginary windows, with the actors describing the exterior activity. The young immigrant mother has a best friend of almost equal importance, and the story is now told by David, the heroine's young son.
The Colony Theatre Company, Los Angeles, California presented Rags in 1993.
They reworked the show again, staging it first at Florida's Coconut Grove Playhouse (February 1999) and then the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey in November 1999. The revised version cut the cast to 15, from the original Broadway cast of 30. According to Strouse, "We tried to do too much. And now it's tightened, more focused. People got lost in it... The diffuse, scattered story now centers on Rebecca Hershkowitz, a young immigrant mother who escapes to the Lower East Side after a pogrom, and her love affair with Saul, an American labor organizer trying to unionize the sweatshop where she works... The [original] score was influenced by Middle Eastern, Irish, Scottish, English folk, American honky-tonk, obviously jazz and ragtime and klezmer – even Greek music of that day, and Broadway, too... It is now 'more impressionistic'."
In 2006, Schwartz, Stein and Strouse collaborated on the World AIDS Day Concert version of the musical, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the show's Broadway opening. The concert was at Times Square's Nokia Theatre and featured Carolee Carmello, Gregg Edelman, Eden Espinosa, Lainie Kazan and Michael Rupert.
The Goodspeed Opera House presented an extensive revisal of the show in 2017, which started previews on October 6, opened on October 25, and closed on December 10. The musical has a new book by David Thompson, several new songs by Schwartz and Strouse, and starred Samantha Massell as Rebecca Hershkowitz. Entirely reimagined, this new Rags has a new plot and new characters and is directed by Rob Ruggiero. The broadwayworld.com reviewer wrote: "They [Goodspeed] have taken a show that many had written off as, simply, one of those shows that just didn't work, and they pulled it apart and put it back together as a fresh, vibrant, timely and important story. I fully expect that this will become the definitive telling of this story, and it should."
Hope Mill Theatre
The UK premiere of the revised version of Rags was produced at Manchester's Hope Mill Theatre, playing from March 2 to April 6, 2019. The production was directed by Bronagh Lagan and starred Rebecca Trehearn as Rebecca, Valda Aviks as Rachel, Gavin James as Bonfman, Sam Peggs as Ben, Jane Quinn as Anna, Michael S. Siegel as Avram, Robert Tripolino as Sal, Tim Walton as Jack, Lydia White as Bella. James Dangerfield, Emma Fraser, James Hastings and Hanna Khogali were members of the ensemble as well as being an on-stage band. The role of David was shared between George Varley and Lochlan White. This production at the Hope Mill Theatre was Co-produced by Hope Mill Theatre and Aria Entertainment with association of Knockhardy Productions. The London transfer of this production will open at the Park Theatre, London on January 9, 2020.