Raggedy Ann Revival Effort

We receive a lot of questions about our process and plans. If you'd like to submit a question to see it answered here, please fill out this Google form or email us at theraggedyannrevivaleffort@gmail.com.

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Q: What Can I Do to Help?

A: Get the word out! It's cheesy, but it's true. When it comes to making the big decisions, having more demand for Rag Dolly's return might just be what tips the scales in the hearts of investors. Be loud! Be passionate!

Q: Can I (or a theater company I know) produce Rag Dolly?

A: Yes! With some technical details. Our licensing journey is still in progress, so performances of Rag Dolly must be managed through direct involvement with RARE. We are excited to hear your enthusiasm for the show, so please send any questions or requests to our email! More specifics can be found on our Contact page.

Q: How did RARE get the rights to perform Rag Dolly?

A: There was never an official way for other companies to license the original show. We looked up the copyright for the script and music, and concluded it was likely to still legally belong to the original authors: William Gibson and Joe Raposo. In 2022, RARE Theatricals contacted Concord Theatricals through our legal counsel. Through Concord, we have formed a professional relationship with the surviving estates of William Gibson and Joe Raposo to obtain permission to revise Rag Dolly. Both estates, Concord, and RARE Theatricals are part of the discussion, with the intent to provide the rights for other companies to produce Rag Dolly in the future.

Q: Are you going to bring Rag Dolly back to Broadway?

A: No.

As theater artists, we strongly believe that there are shows made for Broadway, and shows that are not. Broadway tickets are expensive, and people are very selective in what they choose to see. Musicals that are successful on Broadway usually have large sets, large casts, and larger-than-life broad appeal. A "Broadway Musical" is a genre as much as it is a title. It's a lot of pressure to put on the production team and the show itself to compete for attention and make a profit.

Meanwhile, many shows that did not do well on Broadway have performed much better off-Broadway or in community theaters. Look at The Addams Family, Seussical, or You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (the latter's original Broadway run lasted only 32 shows). With the attention on the project, we aim to bring more love and respect to off and off-off-Broadway theater.

We have also seen the way Rag Dolly has thrived internationally. In sharp contrast to the few original productions, these performances are done with the bare minimum of sets and costumes needed to portray the story, sometimes none at all. We also look to the success of our 2025 staged reading, where audience members commented that the pulled-back and low budget staging— even the stage directions being read aloud by the ensemble— strengthened the storybook atmosphere and their experience.

Even without a Broadway budget, we still want to preserve the show for future generations in the form of a proper album and proshot. But preserving Rag Dolly as a piece of theater that is able to be actively performed at any scale is what is most important to us.

Q: Why is it taking so long? How long will this take?

A: As a volunteer effort, we can’t expect to be a priority. Members of RARE and the people we work with have lives and jobs, and we are very grateful for the time they have given us for free, but they cannot always put our project first. Additionally, theater can be an expensive art form! There is a lot of demand and competition for investors and grants, many of whom will not be exactly inspired by a show whose last full-scale production was a colossal "flop." The journey to revise not just Rag Dolly itself, but its public image, is ongoing.

Here is our current timeline:

Our biggest hurdle is, of course, money. Our second hurdle is recognition— we aren't producers, or big actors, or known names of any sort. That's why attention on the project is our current goal, and will help move the timeline along.

Q: What is your approach to revising and rewriting the script?

A: Our revisal process is based around strengthening a central theme: to not hold in grief and pain, and to support a person’s individual way of processing their heavy emotions; especially in children, who deserve to have their pain validated and not be told that they are too young to worry about such things. We centered our story on Marcella, and how she is struggling to have her pain heard. Everyone seems to tell her how they want her to feel, instead of listening. At first, Raggedy Ann isn’t receptive to her, believing that her duty to make Marcella happy means banishing all sad thoughts, but through accepting her own fears she learns to support Marcella on her own journey rather than telling her how to feel.

We strongly believe that Bat and Wolf have an important role to play, representing how a child’s first experience with grief is often through the death of a family pet. Their stories prepare Marcella, and the audience, for the heavier weight of Mommy’s story later on. To build a consistent throughline, the picture of a perfect family unit including the pets is established early on, and strengthened in the audience’s minds through Bat and Wolf’s scenes.

The closet door struck us as a metaphor for Marcella’s fear of death. “They all went through that door” she says, and is unable to open it. Later, it’s from this door that General D. appears. We knew that we needed to give the most attention to the finale if our new ideas were going to come together into a moving conclusion and not invalidate the whole story as “just a dream.” Marcella awakens from the dream feeling stronger and braver, and opens the closet to find the memories of those she has lost, waiting for her to bring them back into the light.

"The question you have to ask is how do you heal a broken heart? How do you heal a child’s broken heart? For real. You need something concrete, so that the child, or the young adult, can become the master of their own trauma. That it no longer rules their life."

- Gail Benedict, Bat (1986)

To those familiar with the original version of the Raggedy Ann musical, their first question is often what we will be doing with Panda, the Chinese caricature who talks in faux Confucius wisdom. This was first on our list to replace, and the estates supported the change. After much discussion of including book or even movie characters into the script, it was Garrett Gilchrist, with an animator’s eye, who pointed out the visual distinction each toy had in the lineup. Another human doll would look too similar to Ann and Andy; a short, rounded teddy bear (minus the panda design) would maintain the unique silhouette and incorporate a classic children’s toy. Thus, Teddy was born; a patchwork teddy bear with a passion for knowledge who quotes literary figures but has very little experience in the outside world.

Our supporters also often ask about the more intense imagery that was heavily criticized in the original run. Moments including the Witch attempting to hang herself with a noose, or General D. claiming he will make Marcella his queen. While undoubtedly too graphic for a family show, we argue that these emotions are vital to the story, and so our goal is to adapt the emotions these moments caused into less literal actions. The Witch’s suicidal tendencies will be spoken with more nuance. General D.’s obsession with Marcella is played as hunger. These are only examples, as this lens has been applied to many scenes in the show. We believe if Rag Dolly is to truly convey grief and hopelessness in Marcella, and bring the audience through her journey of discovery, these heavy emotions are necessary. We understand that this isn’t what an audience looking for a Raggedy Ann musical would expect, and encourage you meet Rag Dolly on its own terms.

Q: Is Rag Dolly a "kids show"?

A: We are sticking with the original recommendation, which is 9 years or older.

Though there is nothing explicit or adult, Rag Dolly is not 'children's theater'. It features some intense themes, dry humor, and slow dramatic moments that are not designed to keep little kids in their seats for two hours. We strongly believe that it is a family show: the plot, characters, and humor are tailored for adults as much as children. We also strongly believe that the show's serious topics are important for older children to see themselves represented in, and that adults should be prepared to discuss Rag Dolly with them.

"It's a show about love. about truth played out in fantasy. It's no more a 'kid's' show than 'ET' or 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' or 'Close Encounters of a Third Kind'. You discover and win wars with the heart of a human being through the lens of a child's mind."

- Joe Raposo, 1985-10-24, Schenectady Gazette - 'Director Snyder Calls Having Fun, Openness Keys to ESIPA Success'

Q: What do you want people to take away from this show once it's revived, what themes are you trying to strike in people?

A: We believe that Rag Dolly was written to help its young audience name their own worries and fears of death and give them the tools to process those fears. William Gibson, the playwright, made his intentions for the themes clear:

"Far from morbid, his altitude seems to celebrate life. 'Our experiences contain so much pain. Non-artists have to live with these painful episodes, but a writer can use them for a creative act. When you've used them, most of the time you've mastered them. You sublimate the pain.' Asserting that death brings him to life as a writer, Gibson expressed the strong opinion that 'kids shouldn't be shielded. Pets are dying. Relatives are dying all the time. We’ve got to educate kids to facts of life and death and let them learn to cope. It's there. To ignore it is stupid.'"

- 1984-11-3, Schenectady Gazette - 'William Gibson Puts New Meaning Into ‘Raggedy Ann' Musical'

Even if we think these emotions are too intense for young children, they deserve validation and not just a distraction. Loneliness, grief, and isolation, in this case, lead to a "broken heart," which is healed through the love and care of people around you. We hope the audience comes away with the willingness to acknowledge their nightmares, to tell the child within them that their fears are heard, and that there are people who care.

"We tell each other stories so we can survive being alive. I try to imagine the little ones in Ukraine right now, sitting in those bomb shelters, what stories are those parents telling those children to help them understand what’s happening?"

- Gail Benedict, Bat (1986) - 2022-8-3, Raggedy Ann Revival Effort: 'Interview with Gail Benedict by the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort'

Q: Does RARE have interest in the rest of the Raggedy Ann franchise?

A: RARE is very close with the larger community of Raggedy Ann collectors! We enjoy participating in the Raggedy Ann Rally each year in Arcola and have made many friends in our multiple years of attendance. We're all doll collectors ourselves and love to share the warmth and joy of the characters even outside of the musical. Rag Dolly is not the only piece of Raggedy Ann media we work to preserve; as side projects, we also digitize movies, records, books, and cassettes that risk being lost to time. These, however, are just side projects.

Through our online presence and research, we love teaching young fans about the history of the character and the community while forming bridges between generations.

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