"Ruthless! The Musical"
"So many lessons that I should've taught her, like, for example, to not kill her friends."
The Author
Opening Date: March 13, 1992;
Closing Date: January 24, 1993;
Number of Performances: 302;
Genre: Musical, Play;
Acts: Performed in 2 Acts;
Director: Joel Paley;
Musical Director: Marvin Laird;
The Story: "Ruthless!" is the story of a daughter who would literally kill for a part and her split-personality mother and conniving grandmother. It tells a merry melodrama of inherited theatrical talent and unchained ambition reaching from the school play of Tina Denmark to the Broadway of Ginger DelMarco.
Award Nominations:
1993 - Outer Critics Circle Nomination;
1993 - Drama Desk Nomination.
Characters:
Loren Freeman - Sylvia St. Croix;
Joan Ryan - Judy Denmark, Ginger DelMarco;
Laura Bell Bundy - Tina Denmark;
Britney Jean Spears - Tina Denmark (also understudy);
Natalie Portman - Tina Denmark (understudy);
Nancy Linari - Myrna Thorn, Emily Block;
Joanne Baum - Louise Lerman, Eve;
Rita McKenzie - Lita Encore;
Bob Newhart - Unnamed Character;
Bernadette Peters - Ruth DelMarco.
The History:
"Ruthless! The Musical" with book and lyrics by Joel Paley, music by Marvin Laird parodies the classic stories of "The Bad Seed", "All About Eve", "Gypsy", "The Women" and "Valley of the Dolls." "The Bad Seed", a cult film of the 50s, which featured a murderous 8-year-old girl Rhoda Penmark. In "The Bad Seed" Rhoda is a smart, sweet, beautiful girl with a vicious side that few recognize - at first. It's only after Rhonda's mother learns that her own mother was a cold-blooded killer that she begins to suspect that her daughter might be responsible for the recent murder of a classmate.
For a new stage version, which was originally called "Seedy," the writers made a few subtle changes to Rhonda's character. In addition to changing her name, they also made one other important alteration. They made her a fame-seeking showbiz kid. Now named Tina Denmark, the lead character was made for a more specific purpose - to succeed in showbiz.
"Ruthless! The Musical" was an off-Broadway hit in 1992. Critics and audiences loved its campiness.
Plot Summary:
Wimpy and untalented mother Judy Denmark has a remarkably talented daughter, Tina, who is desperate to perform. Sleazy agent Sylvia St. Croix encourages Tina to audition for the school play, "Pippi in Tahiti". Unfortunately, the third grade teacher, Miss Thorn, chooses (probably deliberately) the thoroughly untalented Louise Lerman for the lead part, making Tina the understudy. Well, that isn't good enough for Tina, who murders Louise and goes on as Pippi. Meanwhile, Judy discovers that her mother, theatre critic Lita Encore, was actually a Broadway star, Ruth DelMarco. The news turns Judy into Ginger DelMarco, a confident and talented Broadway performer.
Tina's heinous act is discovered, and she's sent to the Daisy Clover School for Psychopathic Ingenues. Ginger is wowing them on Broadway, but she's in conflict with Sylvia, who also nurses aspirations of stardom. Sylvia wants to turn the newly freed Tina into the star she should be; and all three vie for the spotlight. Ginger's assistant Eve is attempting to remake herself into Ginger.
Act One:
"Prologue" - Sylvia;
"Tina's Mother" - Judy;
"Born To Entertain" - Tina;
"Talent" - Sylvia;
"To Play This Part" - Tina;
"Teaching Third Grade" - Miss Thorn;
"Where Tina Gets It From" - Judy, Sylvia;
"The Pippi Song" - Louise;
"Kisses And Hugs" - Tina, Judy;
"Teaching Third Grade" (Reprise) - Miss Thorn;
"Talent" (Reprise #1) - Sylvia;
"I Hate Musicals" - Lita;
"Angel Morn" - Judy, Tina;
Act Two:
"Montage" - Judy, Tina;
"A Penthouse Apartment" - Eve;
"It Will Never Be That Way Again" - Ginger;
"I Want the Girl" - Sylvia;
"Parents and Children" - Ginger, Tina;
"Ruthless!" - Ginger, Sylvia, Tina;
"Talent" (Reprise #2) - Tina;
"Ruthless!" (Reprise) - The Company;
This off-Broadway musical is cynical and evil, and loaded with witty lyrics that wink at the various stories parodied. The most outrageous moment of the play is an angry duet between Tina and Ginger in which the featured word is "Me!" The performances are all exaggerated, as well as outrageous costumes of the characters which is entirely appropriate for the material.
There are no low points in the score; everything is worth paying attention to. The corny song is probably "Pippi Song," which will remind you of every crappy kid song you ever had to suffer through in a school play. (Louise spells it P-i-p-p-y, which results in a disgusted correction from the wings, and her name provides an opportunity for someone to sardonically call out, "Sing out, Louise!") "I Hate Musicals," sung by the Ethel Merman sound-alike McKenzie, sums up everything that makes musicals so easy to hate. "Teaching Third Grade" exposes the big lie that teaching is a rewarding profession. Listen for the music-box air of "Kisses and Hugs," the naked ambition of "A Penthouse Apartment," the terrific duet "Parents and Children," and the title song, with its cheerfully greedy sentiments.
Britney did not audition for the lead part, but for a smaller child role. She didn't get it, but later she was offered a more significant part - the understudy for the leading child actress Laura Bell Bundy. When the lead actress left the show, Britney Spears took her place. Natalie Portman was picked as Britney's understudy.
About Tina Denmark role Britney said: "I played a little girl who looks sweet and innocent but is really the devil in disguise. It was a lot of fun to play her, because she couldn't have been more the opposite of me: Tina is spoiled rotten and she would kill literally to be a big star." Brit was hilarious. She stood on the table and belted out:
I was born to amuse
From the tip of my nose
To the tap of my shoes,
So strike up the band
And hand me my hat and my cane,
'Cause I was born to entertain!
Britney does a top-dance on the coffe-table in the off-Broadway play
The story cracked Britney up the first time she read the script. Britney got to be spoiled, mean, even evil. When people would meet her afterwards they say, "Wow! You're really nice after all."
After almost 2 years in a show, Britney was growing homesick. She said: "As an understudy, I had to be in every performance whether I got to go on or not, but I only got to go on when the star was sick. I had to know every line by heart. I did get the role when the original actress left, but by then I was growing tired of it and was eager to move on myself."
When Britney left the show her part was given to Lindsay Ridgeway. Natalie Portman left "Ruthless!" too, because she was given the main role in the movie "Leon".
