The following is a letter from actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, which Columbia High School Principal Elizabeth Aaron read to the cast, crew and audience of Ragtime before the show’s final performance on Sunday. Mitchell, who was nominated for a Tony for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Coalhouse Walker in the original Broadway production that ran from 1998-2000, had visited the cast before the show opened.
CHS cast and crew of Ragtime with Brian Stokes Mitchell
Dear RAGTIME Company of Columbia High School:
I was so happy that your cast member, Natalie Parks, invited me to speak to you all yesterday to answer some questions and share some of my experiences and thoughts about RAGTIME. I am sorry that our time together was so brief, but with opening night coming so soon, I know you had a very important dress rehearsal to tend to. I can’t be with you tonight but please know that I will be there in spirit.
Like me and so many others, you now enter the “club” of performers that get to experience RAGTIME firsthand – and what a lucky club we are! RAGTIME celebrates the highs and lows that make our country so unique and frightening and amazing and wonderful. You get to sing beautiful music and lyrics and speak beautiful (and sometimes ugly) words that have the power to change you and your audience members in a positive and most profound way – forever.
Obviously the show is in very good hands. I was able to stay long enough to see the opening number and I was very impressed and moved by your voices, diction, acting, concentration and commitment. My compliments to EVERYONE who has had a hand in this production – seen and unseen – the lighting, the sound, the costumes, wigs and makeup, the set, the thoughtful projections and the terrific orchestra all serve the production wonderfully well. A special shout-out to Tricia Benn, Bethany Pettigrew, Jamie Bunce-Arraial, Peter Bauer and Michael Healy for some particularly heavy lifting done with such skill, artistry and commitment to “passing it on”.
I had been out of RAGTIME for a year when it played it’s last performance at the (then) Ford Theatre on 42nd st. I wrote a letter to the company saying that although it was sad to see such a magnificent Broadway show close, the good thing was that RAGTIME would no longer be the exclusive property of Broadway professionals. Now it would live where it really belonged – in the hearts, minds, hands and mouths of community theatres, college theatres and high school theatres EVERYWHERE.
RAGTIME is yours now. Make Them Hear You.
Brian Stokes Mitchell
www.brianstokes.com
Twitter – @bstokesmitchell facebook: Brian Stokes Mitchell
