The musical adaptation of E. L. Doctorow’s award-winning novel hasn’t had it easy since its 1998 premiere. Ragtime follows three families chasing the American Dream: a Black pianist and his girlfriend, a Latvian immigrant and his daughter, and a wealthy white family ruled by its matriarch. The show won four Tony Awards when it first opened, but the aftermath wasn’t as positive. “Why does this $10 million show,” a New York Times critic wrote that same year, “feel so utterly resistible?” A 2009 production closed early, having been “one of the slowest ticket sellers of the major fall musicals.” In 2010, the leaders of the Tony Awards withdrew the nomination given to the production’s costume design. Last year, however, a City Center production directed by Lear deBessonet won raves. And the show’s themes of social upheaval have never been more relevant. That production is now transferring to the Lincoln Center, with deBessonet back to direct. —Jeanne Malle