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Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding

By: Nov. 06, 2015
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Longtime partners and the creators of the hit musical RUTHLESS!, Marvin Laird and Joel Paley, were married in a private ceremony this past Sunday, November 1st. It was truly a family affair with two of the producers, Maxine Paul and Evan Sacks, standing up for the resplendent grooms as maid of honor and best man respectively. (Reports remain spotty on precisely who stood up for whom.) The initial announcement of the nuptials occurred at the July 13th opening night of RUTHLESS! when Paley proposed to Laird while making a celebratory toast at the post-performance party. Sunday's wedding was held at the beautiful home of the show's third producer, Ken Schur, and his lovely and charming wife Janet. Attendees included Bernadette Peters, Lynn Cohen and select A-listers from the RUTHLESS! company. Scroll down for photos!

With book & lyrics by Joel Paley and music by Marvin Laird, RUTHLESS! first appeared Off-Broadway 23 years ago at the Players Theatre, winning both the Drama Desk Award for Best Lyrics and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. Most notably, the production featured a few young girls 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. Paley once again serves as director of the new production, with 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.

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!)

Author/lyricist/director Joel Paley was an original member of the notorious Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, dancing as Bertha Vinayshinski. This gig led him to Laird who was musical directing a Shirley MacLaine TV special featuring the "Trocks," prior to their sold-out Broadway engagement at the Palace Theatre.

Composer Marvin Laird has written dance and vocal arrangements for over two dozen Broadway and West End shows, including the award-winning production of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and the 2003 Broadway revival of GYPSY, both starring Bernadette Peters. He has been Ms. Peters' personal music director for more than 40 years.

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image
MARVIN LAIRD, BERNADETTE PETERS and JOEL PALEY

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image
BERNADETTE PETERS and LYNN COHEN

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image
MARVIN LAIRD, JOEL PALEY and members of the RUTHLESS! Company

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image
JOEL PALEY and BERNADETTE PETERS

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image

Photo Flash: Bernadette Peters and More Celebrate RUTHLESS! Creators' Wedding  Image



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