On Broadway. Opening Night: November 15, 2009 Ragtime is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty. The music includes marches, cakewalks, gospel and ragtime. Based on the 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States in the early 20th century: African Americans, upper-class suburbanites,New York; and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia."