Tina Denmark is back! The diabolical tot who will do anything to be a star, the gal who sets things spinning in RUTHLESS! The Musical, originally staged in New York 22 years ago, winning both the Drama Desk (Best Lyrics) and Outer Critics Circle Award (Best Musical). But make no mistake — this is not your mother’s RUTHLESS! This is no mere revival, but a newly imagined meditation on narcissism, talented tykes and stage mothers in this post “Toddlers and Tiaras” and Honey Boo Boo world!
RUTHLESS! is set to begin performances June 25th at St. Luke’s Theatre in the heart of the Theatre District. The official Opening Night will be Monday, July 13th. With book & lyrics by Joel Paley and music by Marvin Laird, the original Off-Broadway production opened March 13, 1992 at the Players Theatre. Among the young girls who played the demented eight-year-old diva Tina Denmark during that initial run include Britney Spears, Natalie Portman and Laura Bell Bundy. The show continues to be a favorite among regional theaters and productions are continually being staged around the globe.
Joel Paley directed the original production of RUTHLESS! as well as in L.A., South Beach and the record-breaking concert production starring Bernadette Peters. He will once again serve as director of the new production, with musical supervision by Marvin Laird.
Featured in the cast of RUTHLESS! will be Tracy Jai Edwards (Hairspray, Legally Blonde), Peter Land (All’s Well That Ends Well, My Fair Lady, Cabaret), Kim Maresca (Westport’s Twelfth Night), Rita McKenzie (Ethel Merman’s Broadway, RUTHLESS! L.A.), Zoie Morris (Ragtime, Harlem Song), and introducing Tori Murray (Paper Mill’s New Voices of 2014: Oh, What a Night!)
When The Bad Seed meets Gypsy it’s fun for the whole dysfunctional family! Beautiful and talented eight-year-old Tina Denmark will do anything to play the lead in the school play. ANYTHING! The question is… Where does such remarkable talent and unstoppable ambition come from? The answer may shock you when you see this award-winning Stage Mother of all musicals!
The re-imagined version of RUTHLESS!, which kicks off its run June 25th at St. Luke’s Theatre, is the one which co-creators Joel Paley and Marvin Laird have long envisioned. As Paley explains, “Before it became a full musical it was a long one act but, in the transformation, it became a two act musical because that’s what was required to get it Off-Broadway. In this staging, we’ve done away with the intermission and have streamlined it into 90 minutes that is roller-coaster sharp and fast.” So reinvented is this new edition of RUTHLESS! that Samuel French is publishing the revised version to coincide with this summer’s Off-Broadway opening.
Author/Lyricist/Director Joel Paley was an original member of the notorious Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, dancing as Bertha Vinayshinski. This gig led him to Laird who was musical directing a Shirley MacLaine television special featuring the ‘Trocks,’ prior to their sold-out Broadway engagement at the Palace Theatre.
Composer Marvin Laird has written dance and vocal arrangements for over two dozen Broadway and West End shows, including the award-winning production of Annie Get Your Gun and the 2003 Broadway revival of Gypsy, both starring Bernadette Peters. He has been Ms. Peters’ personal music director for more than 40 years.
Performances of RUTHLESS! will be Mondays at 8 PM, Thursdays at 7 PM, Fridays at 8 PM, and Saturdays at 2 PM at St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 West 46th Street (just west of Eighth Ave.) Tickets are $69.50 and are available through www.RuthlessTheMusical.com or by calling 212-239-6200.