Photo Flash: RUTHLESS! Writer Joel Paley Takes the Stage as 'Tina Denmark' Off-Broadway

Joel Paley has earned accolades for over two decades with Ruthless! The Musical, for which he wrote the award-winning book and lyrics. He also directed the original 1992 production at the Player's Theatre, as well as in L.A., South Beach, the record-breaking concert event starring Bernadette Peters, and the current smash Off-Broadway production at St. Luke's Theatre. If that isn't enough, Paley is also starring in the show this week as the 8-year-old murderous, über-talented Tina Denmark. The role is normally played by Tori Murray who is taking a brief, well-deserved vacation as she prepares to enter sixth grade next week. She's set to return to the role tomorrow, and Joel Paley will offer audiences his showstopping take on the role one more time tonight at 7 PM. When asked why the 59-year-old Paley was interested in stepping into this seemingly impossible assignment, he merely shrugged and explained, "The show must go on." Scroll down for photos!

RUTHLESS! opened July 13th to unanimous rave reviews and the producers recently put a new block of tickets on sale through January 2, 2016.

This isn't the first time Joel Paley has saved the day during this new production's short history so far. Only four days after opening night, the show's leading man, Peter Land, became ill and collapsed onstage at the top of the second act. So for the following week until Land's replacement, Paul Pecorino, was ready to go on, the role of Sylvia St. Croix was played by...Joel Paley!

In this wild ride of a show, 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 23 years ago, 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.

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.'

Also 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), and Tracy Jai Edwards (Hairspray, Legally Blonde). The show's composer, Marvin Laird, serves as music supervisor.

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.