Tony nominee Rob McClure passed the baton to assistant conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra Kalena Bovell to lead a virtual Ragtime reunion, featuring Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and more.
The latest episode of McClure’s #ConductorCam Instagram series commemorates the Black Lives Matters movement. To kick things off, the Mrs. Doubtfire star leads an invisible orchestra through the end of the musical's prologue. Suddenly, the music stops and the conductor’s stick is passed to Bovell, who puts the baton away. Then, she performs a poem about Black experience in America and the many injustices that still occur.
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To bring things full circle, Bovell finishes the Ragtime opening number with a number of Broadway alums, including some who have appeared in productions of the Stephen Flaherty-Terrence McNally-Lynn Ahrens musical throughout the years.
Joining Tony winners McDonald and Stokes Mitchell are Quentin Earl Darrington, James Harkness, J. Harrison Ghee, Alan H. Green, LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, Calvin Cooper, Adam Sadberry, Alvin Hough, Gilbert L. Bailey II, Jessie Hooker-Bailey, Mariah Reives, Aaron Stokes, Aaron Jennings, Monica K. Davis, Zane Mark, Pamela Watson, Jay Brandford, Kenita Miller, Stephan Fillare, TyNia René Brandon, and Jaquez André Sims.
Check it out below.
