L to R: Peter Land and Tori Murray (Photo: Carol Rosegg)
Welcome the long-awaited return of Ruthless. Don't be alarmed if this vicious musical all about maniacal excess with its vivaciously venomous score by Joel Paley (book and lyrics) and Marvin Laird (lyrics) catapults you out of the theater on a high and keep you smiling even if it's into a sweltering summer night. Fear not that this deliriously campy (sorry there is no other word that suits) show about one aggressive little show-biz-driven girl that first delighted Off Broadway audiences twenty-three years ago is only for the initiated or the intrepid.
Grafted with the genetic makeup of The Bad Seed and graced with the precociousness of an all-smiling, all-dancing, all demented Shirley Temple, she is Miss Tina Denmark. She is played by the remarkably talented 10-year-old 5th grader Tori Murray whose performance has been carefully calculated for you to adore, even as she sends shivers up and down your spine.
But are you equally prepared to watch her being nurtured by Judy Denmark (Kim Maresca, making a sensational Off-Broadway debut) as her vacant-eyed mother who, although she can't recall her own shadowy past, or the name of her not-at-home (in the literal sense) husband, is soon to be rabidly obsessed, like Gypsy's Mama Rose, with her own career? Also come prepared for a plot that exploits the best and the most bestial parts of All About Eve and a host of other time-tested stock situations and clichés from classic Broadway and Hollywood lore.To read the entire review please follow the link to CurtainUp.com
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