For Caissie Levy, Ragtime Feels More Relevant Than Ever

The Broadway revival of Ragtime, which opens Thursday night at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, paints a picture of an early-20th century America grappling with immense change — and in the year since this production debuted at the New York City Center, it’s more pertinent than ever. “That’s been a pretty crazy discovery,” says Caissie Levy, 44. “Just to sit in this moment in time in American history and in world history and see how the show is landing for people.”

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel, Ragtime intertwines three communities: New York’s white suburban upper class; Harlem’s Black community; and Eastern European immigrants. Levy plays Mother, whose social conscience awakens despite her husband’s resistance to the racial and class upheavals swirling around them.

“We meet her in a very secure place in her life where she thinks she knows who she is and she thinks she knows what life is all about,” Levy says of her character. “And then these series of events happen where she is meeting people that she wouldn’t necessarily normally meet, and she’s reacting to the world in front of her, and she’s being changed by people. Her horizons are being broadened, and she starts to question her belief system and be inspired by the people who are standing up for themselves.”

The Olivier-nominated actor hopes audiences have a similar transformation. “They might come in with a certain worldview, they might come in with a certain storyline that they resonate with, and they might leave with one they never thought they would,” she says. “That’s the beauty of the piece.”

On her Ragtime origin story:

I grew up just outside of Toronto, Canada, and that’s where they did the out-of-town tryout before coming to Broadway, so I saw the original company in the mid-’90s. Ragtime was such an epic show and such a huge undertaking with so many characters and so many plot lines to follow. I remember just being completely blown away that something that dense could be that clear.

I especially remember Brian Stokes Mitchell because I didn’t realize he was theater royalty at the time. I knew him from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as Hilary’s boyfriend, so I was like, “Oh, the weatherman from Fresh Prince is in this, that’s interesting.” Then he opened his mouth, and that voice came out. And then of course, Audra [McDonald] — I met her afterward and gushed to her, and now she’s a friend, so that’s a funny full-circle moment.

On squashing opening-night jitters:

Denial is the best thing — just being like, “This is not a big deal,” and tricking yourself and reminding yourself that everyone who’s out there that night wants it to succeed and wants you to succeed, so they’re not sitting in judgment. When you can reframe that, the nerves just become joyful nerves. It doesn’t allow all your negative self-talk to take over.

On Joni Mitchell warmups:

Sometimes it’s very formal, where I’m rehearsing with tapes from my voice teacher. But other times the vocal warmup is me blasting Joni Mitchell, Brandi Carlile, Patty Griffin, Bob Dylan. Anything off Blue or Court and Spark. It really activates the mix-y, soprano-y side of my voice, so it’s a nice way to warm up and get ready for the light floaty stuff that I do at the top of Ragtime. It also just makes me feel calm and at ease, which I love. I like my dressing room to feel very peaceful and cozy.

On her dressing-room treasures:

I have a picture of my two grandmothers side by side with the most joy on their faces at my wedding as I was walking back up the aisle after we said “I do.” They are hugely informative to how I’m playing Mother and the way I’ve pieced her together, and I’ve borrowed very specific elements of each of them for this character. My grandmother Ruth was an incredibly modern woman in a not so modern time. She didn’t really care what other people thought, didn’t let ideas of what was appropriate hold her back in life, but was always a classy lady. And with my bubbe Frieda, I bring a lot of her joie de vivre, her joyfulness, and her love of a party and love of a good outfit to Mother. She was someone who had the most gorgeous cocktail dresses, loved a bit of sparkle, loved a bit of performance — all the elements of Mother that are sort of upper class and fabulous.

On her pre-show routine:

I don’t really have any superstitions. I think I broke those early in my career because I didn’t want to have to rely on them and then get onstage and feel like, “Oh my God, I didn’t do this.” I do check in with my fellow actors and specifically the people who I have scene work with. I don’t like to see them for the first time onstage, so I either visit their dressing room, or they visit mine. Brandon Uranowitz and I will always see each other before the show and just have a little one-on-one.

Also, at Ragtime specifically, we’ve been doing a company-wide circle up, and Joshua [Henry, who plays Coalhouse Walker, Jr.] leads us in a really beautiful couple breaths. We pick a word to focus on for the show. The little kids in the cast count us down, and we do a little, “Three, two, one, Ragtime!” We get in the same zone so we’re all united before we step onstage, which has been really lovely.

On day-off mom life:

I have a 9-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, and they need their mom, and they don’t get me that often — so when I’m with them, I try to really be with them. No phone, no distractions. Hanging out, making art, building Legos, doing puzzles, all that.

Mondays [I have off], and I try to get a massage or do some sort of self-care before they come home for the day… but then they’ve got gymnastics and karate and homework and all of the things. I try to see my husband somewhere in there and have a conversation with him, because we’re kind of ships in the night right now. It’s a juggle for sure, but it’s great to be able to drop into mom mode on those days off, because even though they’re not restorative in the way that days off used to be in my 20s, they still fill me up for the week.

On manifesting a Next to Normal transfer:

I’ve never been someone who has this short list of dream roles ready to pull out. But there isn’t a day that goes by right now where people aren’t asking me about if Next to Normal is going to come in or not [from London]. I know nothing — but I would love to be able to bring that production to Broadway, because it was such a transformative experience for me to be in the West End. I loved that role, and I’m not done with it yet, so I’m just crossing all my fingers and toes.