Doctorow's <cite>Ragtime</cite> Is Brilliantly Reborn on Broadway, by John Simon
It is good to have <cite>Ragtime</cite> back on Broadway. The 1998 show, with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, is a significant musical that narrowly misses being a great one. Even so, compared to what nowadays passes for a great musical (<cite>Wicked</cite>, for example), <cite>Ragtime</cite> is nothing short of a masterpiece.