Tear Jerker / Ragtime

• "Back to Before" is a song that could be seen as a tearjerker. Mother knows that Father's promise of restoring the status quo is impossible, as too much has changed and she will embrace it. Marin Mazzie (the original Mother) really sells the song and was reduced to tears after recording it. Gains new resonance now that Mazzie has passed away, making it possibly even sadder.
• "Your Daddy's Son", where Sarah expresses the fear and pain she went through as a young, unwed, and pregnant Black girl. It becomes clear that what she did to her son was not because she hated him or didn't want him, but was an act of desperation—some productions make it seem like she was so mentally broken that she wasn't even conscious of her actions at the time—and she's clearly grateful it didn't succeed.
  Sarah: I buried my heart in the ground!
• If you can get through "Till We Reach that Day" without crying, you deserve a medal. Sarah has been brutally murdered, mistaken for a would-be assassin, and not only do we see Coalhouse's pain, the entire community (the New Rochelle family, the citizens of Harlem, and the immigrants) mourn her.
• "Sarah Brown Eyes." Oh my GOSH. Coalhouse reminisces about the first time he met Sarah, quite some time after she's died. Sarah's actress reappears on stage to help visualize the reenactment, and the two sing a sweet, wholesome Meet Cute duet worthy of an animated Disney film. Then Sarah's actress sings that final, sweet, drawn-out note and disappears into the darkness, leaving Coalhouse to return to his grim reality.
• Tateh comforting his daughter with her late mother's wisdom in "Gliding," and telling her to imagine that Mameh is here with them, skating just ahead and out of sight.
• Coalhouse's death. While it's expected by this point that he'll be killed in spite of his surrender, Father clearly thinks that the police will spare him because he believes they're good people. When he's shot anyway, he screams a Big "NO!" and collapses in pure agony.