Beginning Monday, October 5th, Jennifer Diamond will assume the roles of Louise Lerman and Eve Allabout in RUTHLESS! The Musical at St. Luke’s Theatre in the heart of the Theatre District. She’s replacing Tracy Jai Edwards who is departing the show to appear in the new musical Gotta Dance, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.
Jennifer Diamond recently played evil stepsister Florinda in Into the Woods starring Heather Headley at The Muny, where she was also featured in Les Miserables with Norm Lewis and Hugh Panaro. She has traveled the globe with Kristin Chenoweth in concert, performing in such prestigious venues as Sydney Opera House, the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. Jennifer starred as Lucy in NYC’s Jekyll & Hyde in Concert and she is set to make her 54 Below debut on November 8th, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander.
RUTHLESS! opened July 13th to unanimous rave reviews led by Entertainment Weekly which called the show, “Uproarious! A mash-up of The Bad Seed, Gypsy, All About Eve, plus the films of Douglas Sirk and John Waters!” Due to overwhelming demand, the show’s producers recently put a new block of tickets on sale through January 2, 2016.
Book and lyrics for RUTHLESS! are by Joel Paley with music by Marvin Laird. Joel Paley also directed the original production as well as productions in L.A., South Beach and the record-breaking concert event starring Bernadette Peters. He once again serves as director of the newest incarnation of RUTHLESS!, with Marvin Laird on board as music supervisor as well.
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.” 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.
RUTHLESS! first appeared Off-Broadway 23 years ago at the Players Theatre, winning both the Drama Desk Award for Best Lyrics and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. Most notably, the production featured a few young girls in the role of Tina whose names might be familiar to contemporary audiences including 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.
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 a world that has since been introduced to such gems as “Toddlers and Tiaras” and Honey Boo Boo.
This version of RUTHLESS! is the one 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.”
Also featured in the cast of RUTHLESS! are Kim Maresca (Westport’s Twelfth Night), Paul Pecorino (Devil Boys From Beyond, The Rocky Horror Show), Rita McKenzie (Ethel Merman’s Broadway, RUTHLESS! L.A.), Andrea McCullough (Urinetown, Grease), and introducing Tori Murray (Paper Mill’s New Voices of 2014: Oh, What a Night!)
RUTHLESS! is produced Off-Broadway by Maxine Paul, Evan Sacks and Ken Schur. The playing schedule is 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 available through www.RuthlessTheMusical.com or by calling 212-239-6200.