Whether “Ragtime” is presented in productions mammoth (as in its 1998 premiere) or modest (the 2009 revival), the musical, adapted from E.L. Doctorow’s kaleidoscopic 1975 novel, reverberates with the directness, passion and allegorical heft of an American folk epic. Lear deBessonet opens her tenure as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater with an expanded and […]