The show about a driven child star opened July 13, 2015; the original cast recording, produced by Robert Sher, is set for release this fall.
The musical comedy features a book and lyrics by Joel Paley with music by Marvin Laird. Paley also directed the 1992 debut of Ruthless! He again served as director of the new production, with Laird as music supervisor.
Featured in the cast are Kim Maresca, Paul Pecorino, Tori Murray, Rita McKenzie, Andrea McCullough and Tracy Jai Edwards.
“When The Bad Seed meets Gypsy, it’s fun for the whole dysfunctional family! Tina Denmark is a pretty, charming and diabolical eight-year-old who 'was born to entertain,’” according to press notes. “With the encouragement of slick and overbearing potential agent Sylvia St. Croix, Tina will do anything to play the lead in her school play. The question is, where does such remarkable talent and unstoppable ambition come from? The answer is shocking in this award-winning Stage Mother of all musicals.”
This version of Ruthless! is the one co-creators Paley and Laird had long envisioned. As Paley previously explained, “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’s roller-coaster sharp and fast.”
The musical plays the St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 West 46th Street (just west of Eighth Ave.). Tickets are available through RuthlessTheMusical.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.
(Updated September 10, 2016)
