Hocus Focus

With a cast of characters that includes Henry Ford, and Harry Houdini, Ragtime is, in its way, the most ambitious musical of the 1990s. Taking off from E.L. Doctorow’s wildly successful novel about social upheaval at the turn of the century, the show weaves into one gilded braid three strata of society: Harlem blacks, immigrant Jews, and well-to-do whites.

Jim Conti has been involved with Ragtime for almost five years, playing Houdini on Broadway and in the show’s extended try-out in Toronto. What keeps his work fresh is a new part: the principal role of Tateh, the Jewish peddler who, after a rough start on these shores, becomes a film-industry pioneer. Conti says conveying Tateh’s “great heart and humanity” ranks among the best acting jobs he’s had.

“This part kicks my butt,” he says, “so my day-to-day existence is about gearing up for the performance. This past year and a half has made for a lot of evaluation both as an actor and a guy, and I’ve gotten very tangible things to prepare for whatever next role I take. My goal is to make Tateh a living thing without any mechanics.”

When the first national tour of Ragtime folded in the wake of producer Garth Drabinsky’s fuzzy bookkeeping, it didn’t take long for SFX and Pace Theatrical to pick up the ball. The tour is now smaller than the original, and in Conti’s opinion the diminutive version is preferable.

“It had to be downsized to make it more mobile,” he says, “but what it did was give the creative team a chance to rethink the show. It was the first time they had had their hands on it for two years, and we get to reap the benefits. It is a little more rewarding. Some people have said to me, ‘I’ve never heard that before’ or ‘I never realized that before.'”

There’s a stronger focus on the show, Conti says. “You sit back and look at the spectacle, but you lean forward to look at the characters.”