When “Ragtime” closes this summer, other projects will take its place, but it will also allow him to spend more time with his wife, Cathryn — his college sweetheart whom he repeatedly championed during our conversations — and their three young sons. Henry said the boys are just getting to the age when they understand what he does for a living, and why he’s not home at night.
Domestic sacrifice comes with a life in theater. For Henry, tapping into that pain intensifies his work, particularly in songs like “Wheels of a Dream,” a ballad of hope that Coalhouse and Sarah sing about their son:
With the promise of happiness
and the freedom he’ll live to know
he’ll travel with head held high
just as far as his heart can go
and he will ride
our son will ride
on the wheels of a dream.
But Coalhouse and Sarah’s road to happiness is marred by the racism of low-level thugs and high-ranking officials. Eight times a week, Coalhouse is robbed, threatened and called a racial slur — violence that can stick to an actor’s body long after the curtain call.
“In real life, the times I’ve been called the N-word, hard R, I was stunned,” Henry said. “Coming from a Jamaican background, we think of ourselves as kings and queens, so my reaction is like Coalhouse’s: ‘Oohh, there’s a misunderstanding here. You don’t know me. I am not going to get the courtesy I deserve.’”
Both Coalhouse and Henry know the power of self-possession, especially when it has been hard won. Conviction like that may take a lifetime to build, and Henry still has a lot of life ahead of him to deepen it. When he stops to take stock of how far he has come, though, he knows his 11-year-old self would be in awe.
“I used to tell my brother that all we needed was a bathroom, a fridge, and a room with instruments all around so we could make music all day. I am living that dream,” Henry said. “‘Ragtime’ is awesome and it’s giving me a spotlight, and I come back in between scenes to pick up the guitar because I’m always doing things to get my creativity out. I made promises to my younger self that if I ever saw a moment like this, I’d stay hungry.”