Photos: Go Inside Rehearsals for THE HARDER THEY COME at the Public Theater

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and The Public's Writer-in-Residence, Suzan-Lori Parks, will bring to The Public a new musical adaptation of the 1972 movie, THE HARDER THEY COME.

Get a first look inside rehearsals below!

The production will begin performances in the Newman Theater with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, February 16 and will run through Sunday, March 26, with an official opening on Wednesday, March 15.

The breakthrough film, produced and directed by Perry Henzell and co-written with Trevor Rhone, tells the story of Ivan, a young singer who arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, eager to become a star. After falling in love and cutting a record deal with a powerful music mogul, Ivan soon learns that the game is rigged, and as he becomes increasingly defiant, he finds himself in a battle that threatens not only his life, but the very fabric of Jamaican society. Featuring Grammy Award winner Jimmy Cliff's hits, "You Can Get It If You Really Want" and "Many Rivers to Cross," former Artistic Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre Tony Taccone directs this new musical, with co-direction by Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo and choreography by Edgar Godineaux.

The complete cast of THE HARDER THEY COME includes Jeannette Bayardelle (Daisy), Shawn Bowers (Ensemble), J. Bernard Calloway (Preacher), Andrew Clarke (Lyle), Eean Sherrod Cochran (Understudy), Tyla Collier (Understudy), Jamal Christopher Douglas (Ensemble), Tiffany Francès (Understudy), Garfield Hammonds (Understudy), Dana Marie Ingraham (Ensemble), Dominique Johnson (Jose), Chelsea-Ann Jones (Ensemble), Natey Jones (Ivan), Dudney Joseph Jr (Ray), Dwight Xaveir Leslie (Understudy), Morgan McGhee (Ensemble), Meecah (Elsa), Jacob Ming-Trent (Pedro), Alysha Morgan (Ensemble), Ken Robinson (Hilton), Housso Semon (Ensemble), Denver Andre Taylor (Understudy), Sir Brock Warren (Ensemble), Carla Woods (Understudy), and Christopher Henry Young (Ensemble).

THE HARDER THEY COME features scenic design by Clint Ramos & Diggle; costume design by Emilio Sosa; lighting design by Japhy Weideman; sound design by Walter Trarbach; projection design by Hana S. Kim; hair, wig and makeup design by Earon Chew Nealey; prop management by Claire M. Kavanah; fight and intimacy direction by Rocio Mendez; dialect coaching by Dwight Bacquie; music contracting by Kristy Norter; and music direction by John Bronston. Jeffrey Rodriguez serves as production stage manager and Amanda Michaels and Alex Murphy serve as stage managers.

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