Photo FLASH: Cast of RUTHLESS! Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

The Off-Broadway smash, RUTHLESS! The Musical, marked its one-year anniversary on July 13th and the cast celebrated into the wee hours at Becco. RUTHLESS! opened July 13, 2015 to unanimous rave reviews led by Rex Reed who called the show, "Malicious & Delicious...A Total Joy!" Just some of the celebrities who have been spotted in the audience so far include Ron Howard, Regis & Joy Philbin, Bernadette Peters, Lynn Cohen, Chelsie Hightower, Mario Cantone, Dmitry Chaplin, Laura Bell Bundy, Barbara Eden, Jan Maxwell, Legacy, LARRY THOMAS (The Soup Nazi), Jackie Hoffman, Sierra Boggess, and Dame Gillian Lynne. The original cast recording, produced by Robert Sher, is set for release later this summer.

Book and lyrics are by Joel Paley with music by Marvin Laird. Paley also directed the 1992 debut of RUTHLESS! as well as productions in L.A., South Beach and the record-breaking concert event starring Bernadette Peters. He once again serves as director of the new production, with Marvin Laird on board as music supervisor.

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.

RUTHLESS! first appeared Off-Broadway 24 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 up & 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.'

This version of RUTHLESS! is the one co-creators Joel Paley and Marvin Laird have long envisioned. As Paley explains, "Before it became a full musical, it was a long one-act but, in the transformation, it became a two act musical because that's what was required to get it Off-Broadway. In this staging, we've done away with the intermission and have streamlined it into 90 minutes that's roller-coaster sharp and fast."

Featured in the cast of RUTHLESS! are Kim Maresca (THE NEXT STAGE at Feinstein's/54 Below, Westport's TWELFTH NIGHT), Paul Pecorino (DEVIL BOYS FROM BEYOND, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW), Tori Murray (Nickelodeon's "All in with Cam Newton"), Rita McKenzie (Ethel Merman'S BROADWAY, RUTHLESS! L.A.), Andrea McCullough (URINETOWN, GREASE), and Tracy Jai Edwards (HAIRSPRAY, LEGALLY BLONDE).

The playing schedule for RUTHLESS! 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.