Ben Levi Ross, 28, is a first‑time Tony nominee for his featured performance in Ragtime after winning Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards in recent weeks while the revival draws sold‑out audiences eight times a week.
The production itself has become an awards season juggernaut: Ragtime received 11 Tony nominations overall and last Friday claimed five Drama League awards, and the company has five performance nominations this season. The cast continues to perform eight times each week as the show gears up for a Tony Awards ceremony that will feature live excerpts from the best musical nominees.
Ross plays Mother’s Younger Brother, a wealthy young man who becomes radicalized over the course of the show and finds new direction through political activism. He first appeared in Ragtime in an off‑Broadway run at New York City Center in late 2024 before joining the revival that has been selling out its eight weekly performances.
On the emotional strain of simultaneous awards attention and a full performance schedule, Ross said, "I just keep saying to myself, ‘Even though you’re tired, take everything in, take every second in, keep your eyes open, look around,’" adding that the moment feels exceptional: "Because this is rare, and this does not happen all the time." He noted that the recognition takes him back to the rehearsal room: "It gives you a moment to remember what it was like when we were first starting out — the magic that I felt in the rehearsal room," and stressed the unusual convergence of acclaim and constant performance: "It’s really rare that you get to be in a show with this many performances that are being recognized — not only by their fellow actors, but recognized by the community at large in this way."
The show’s subject matter — set in the early 1900s and tackling racism, classism, politics and the immigrant experience — is part of what producers and audiences are celebrating now. Ross has not been a casual entrant to this material; as a teenager he was obsessed with the original Broadway company’s Tonys performance of the show’s prologue, and he has watched the revival become both critically honored and commercially robust.
There is a friction at the center of the story: the cast is living two full lives at once — an eight‑show‑a‑week grind and the public ritual of awards season. Ross and his colleagues attended a Tonys meet the nominees luncheon with Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowitz the afternoon before the Drama League Awards, and the company is fielding both nomination ceremonies and full houses. That split — constant, tiring performance alongside the public demands of campaigns and ceremonies — is exactly the pressure Ross describes when he asks the company to hold each second in their heads.
Ross has also used the awards moment to make a case beyond personal recognition. "The success of this revival of ‘Ragtime’ should tell producers that you can have a successful show that is nuanced, that is deep, complex, that faces the ugly truths in our society — and that when all of those things come together correctly, it can be a commercial hit," he said, adding bluntly, "Those things don’t have to live on the fringes of the theater."
If there is a clear answer to whether the show’s success will alter what producers back next season, it is in Ross’s conviction and the numbers behind him: with wins at the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle, five Drama League awards, five performance nominations and 11 Tony nods for the production, the revival has offered both critical validation and box‑office proof. "Because we’ve had five performance nominations, you can be pretty certain that all five of us will be highlighted in some way with our performance," Ross said — and the visible payoff, he argues, should push producers to greenlight more work that is both challenging and commercially viable. For Ross, who also crooned "That's All" in the Elsbeth season 3 finale ( the moment is simple and immediate: take it in, and let the industry see that depth sells.
