RUTHLESS! Adds Thursday Performances to Schedule

Off-Broadway's musical smash RUTHLESS! is adding Thursday performances beginning this week. Now extended into the summer, RUTHLESS! opened on July 13, 2015 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!" Just some of the celebrities who have been spotted in the audience so far include Ron Howard, Regis & Joy Philbin, Bernadette Peters, Lynn Cohen, Chelsie Hightower, Mario Cantone, Rex Reed, Dmitry Chaplin, Laura Bell Bundy, Barbara Eden, Jan Maxwell, Legacy, Larry Thomas (The Soup Nazi), Jackie Hoffman, Sierra Boggess, Dame Gillian Lynne, Jerry Dixon, Von Smith, Jacque LeWarne, Emily James, and Jonathan Platero. This newly imagined production of RUTHLESS! recently received the coveted 2015 Odyssey Nightlife Award for Best Off Broadway Show, and actor Paul Pecorino was honored for Best Breakthrough Off Broadway Performance.

Book and lyrics are by Joel Paley with music by Marvin Laird. Paley also directed the original production of RUTHLESS! 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 new production, 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 24 years ago at the Players Theatre, winning both the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Best Lyrics. Most notably, the production featured a few up-and-comers in the role of Tina 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 & Tiaras" and 'Honey Boo Boo.'

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), Jennifer Diamond (INTO THE WOODS, JEKYLL & HYDE), 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 new playing schedule is Mondays at 8 PM, Thursdays at 7 PM and Saturdays at 2 PM at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46 Street (just west of Eighth Ave.) Tickets are available through www.RuthlessTheMusical.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

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