BWW Reviews: RUTHLESS! Offers a Musical Parody of The Bad Seed with Tons of Talent and Lots of Fun!

Just what do you get when you roll together a parody of The Bad Seed, Gypsy, All About Eve, Mame, Follies, and Gone With the Wind into a single musical? It's RUTHLESS! featuring 12 year old wonder Makenna Butcher (sharing the role with Rosie Wilson) as eight-year-old Tina Denmark who loses the role of her dreams in her school musical, Pippi (Longstocking) in Tahiti. Tina declares, "I was born to entertain" and admits she will do anything to win the part back, including murdering the leading lady! She is hell on wheels, and Makenna's glare lets you know this demon seed will never be reformed.

And where is her mother is all this? Lacey Keane plays Judy Denmark as a combination of every suburban TV mother from the 50's (think June Cleaver, Donna Stone, Harriet Nelson and Margaret Andersen in their shirtwaist dresses with aprons) with a booming voice like Liza Minelli. But since she thinks she has no talent, her life is all about being talented Tina's mother, catering to her every whim to promote her daughter's stage career.

Keane is brilliant in the role with over-the-top acting fitting in perfectly with the show's parody of everything! The running gag of Judy not knowing where her husband is or what he does for a living or who her real mother is adds greatly to the on-going spoof. In the second act, be prepared for Keane's wonderful character transformation into Broadway star Ginger Del Marco, with Daina Baker-Bowler as her jealous assistant, Eve.

Overbearing and sleazy agent Sylvia St. Croix (the hysterical cross-dressing Paul Rorie in magnificent costumes by Rachael Lorenzetti), encourages Tina to pursue her spotlight dreams, feeding her thirst for stardom. Rorie is a hoot, combining just the right masculine and feminine wiles to keep his/her over-the-top character a joy to behold. And boy can he sing!

Lita Encore (Shirley Hatton), Judy's adoptive mother (and Tina's grandmother) is a tart-tongued theatre critic who "hates musicals." Hatton is a joy in the role, grabbing the spotlight with her throaty Judy Garland voice during her solo number. Kudos again to costumer Lorenzetti for combining Hatton's professional suit with an over-the top yet strangely lovely hat, letting us see her for who she is the moment Lita shows up to review the premiere of Pippi in Tahiti. Of course she gives Tina a scathing review, and the play revenge spoof takes off from there.

Rounding out the talented cast is Lisa Meert as frustrated former actress hopeful turned third-grade teacher Miss Thorn (complete with whistle around her neck) and reporter Ms. Block, sent to interview Ginger Del Marco. .

Kudos also to lighting designers Katy Streeter and Steve G Design for the many mood magnifying effects, and scenic designers Garrett Windust and Scot Renfro for creating a color-coordinated multi-level set, complete with coffee table that doubled as a tap dancing stage. Mark McCormick's musical accompaniment was a bit too loud the night I saw the show. But with the over-the-top nature of the show, the actors just sang louder adding even more spunk to their comic performances.