Joshua Henry Reflects on ‘Ragtime’ Opening Night and Bringing Coalhouse Walker Jr. Back to the Broadway Stage

Moments before stepping onstage for “Ragtime”‘s opening night, star Joshua Henry was moved by a note from a familiar face in the audience.

That someone was Brian Stokes Mitchell, who originated the role of Coalhouse Walker Jr. on Broadway in 1998.

“The highlight of the night for me was seeing Stokes,” Henry says the afternoon after opening night. “He sent me a picture of him doing ‘Ragtime’ and a special note saying, ‘Coalhouse is now yours. It’s your voice, it’s your soul. And so enjoy it.’”

The packed house included fellow “Ragtime” originating cast member Audra McDonald and other members of the Broadway community like Rachel Zegler, Danielle Brooks, Ben Platt and Noah Galvin, Phillipa Soo, Michael Urie, Adrienne Warren, Danny Burstein and more.

“ I feel really peaceful,” says Henry, at home with his family a few hours before needing to head back for the Friday evening performance. “A little tired. But really full, since it’s been such a long journey. I’m proud. I’m thankful. I feel a lot of things; a lot of feelings.”

Henry first took on the role of Coalhouse last fall for the production’s off-Broadway run at New York City Center and returned this season for its Broadway transfer to Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.

“The role is written so incredibly by Terrence McNally and Flaherty and Ahrens,” he says. “It’s a juicy, meaty role with a huge arc from hope and determination to shatter, to getting back on the right track. As an artist, I look for roles that use the entirety of my humanity.”

He cites past roles like his Tony-nominated turn as Billy Bigelow in “Carousel,” and Aaron Burr for the first national tour of “Hamilton,” as examples of similarly complex characters.

The music of “Ragtime” has also proved to be a rewarding experience: the show features a 28-piece orchestra, and Coalhouse presented a unique vocal challenge for Henry.

“As an actor, this is the type of material that you have to rise to the occasion,” he says. “It helps you grow — and I wanna keep growing. I have to be mindful every show, and when I’m not in the show, because it requires a very low part of my voice and a pretty high part of my voice, too. So emotionally I gotta be ready, and vocally I gotta be prepared, six days a week.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the show’s run — currently scheduled through Jan. 4 — Henry is eager to digging deeper into the role.

“I want to find more of the joy. I want to find more depths of sorrow, more depths of determination,” he says. “The further that I go and allow myself to explore Coalhouse, the more people will feel. And the more that they will see themselves in the hope and the audacity to dream for something that they don’t see yet,” he adds. “Ultimately faith, if I’m honest. That’s what this whole thing is about. Do you believe in something that you don’t currently see, whether that’s in your neighborhood or in America. That’s the goal: to widen that lens.”

Among the audience reactions that have proven most rewarding is a letter written by a 91-year-old woman who attended a recent performance. “ At the curtain call, she rose to her feet and started clapping. Which meant that she was not using the walker,” he says. “, ‘I was so taken, I was so overwhelmed by what I saw, that it was actually a healing moment.’”

“To know that I’m a part of helping someone, just at the base level, feel deeply — that’s rewarding enough,” he adds. “I couldn’t ask for more than that.”