RUTHLESS! Star Abigail Harrison to Perform at TUNES IN TIMES SQUARE Benefit Concert

10-year-old Abigail Harrison, who currently understudies Tori Murray in the award-winning musical smash RUTHLESS!, is set to perform at the 5th annual "Tunes in Times Square" charity event on Sunday, May 1.

The free show, to be held on Broadway between 42nd & 43rd Streets, will be a continuous sing-a-thon featuring Broadway performers to raise awareness about Magical Music for Life, a foundation dedicated to enriching the lives of children through the impactful and extraordinary power of music.

The all-day event will run from 10 AM - 6 PM and Abigail will be performing the showstopping number from RUTHLESS!, "Born to Entertain." Additional performers to be announced.

Book and lyrics for RUTHLESS! are by Joel Paley with music by Marvin Laird. When THE BAD SEED meets GYPSY, it's fun for the whole dysfunctional family! Tina Denmark is a pretty, charming and diabolical third grader 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.'

Under the direction of Joel Paley, the cast of RUTHLESS! features 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!)

The 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.

For more information about Magical Music for Life, visit www.magicalmusic.org.

Photo Credit: David Kaptein