RUTHLESS!

#1

RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 12:18am

Has anyone a production of the show Ruthless! the musical. If you have could anyone tell me anything direction wise that you thought was really cool. Or anything that the actors did with their characters that just really cool. I really need you guys on this one, Thanks!

#2

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 12:20am

I love Ruthless...Miss Otis (is that her name) is an Ethel Merman imitator.

#3

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 12:28am

DO you mean miss Thorn the teacher...

#4

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 7:50am

No, the character's name is Lita Encore. "Miss Otis Regrets," which is in the lyrics to "I Hate Musicals" is a song by Cole Porter.

And Rita McKenzie, who played the role in Los Angeles, is known for her Merman impersonation, but the role was not played that way in the New York company.

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Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#5

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 12:31pm

This show is basically a long Carol Burnett skit. All of the characters are big and dramatic in a very forties-Hollywood way. I was fortunate enough to do it twice--the second time, almost all the cast were men in drag. The thing that counts is large, outrageous choices. See the movies that inspired it ("Gypsy", "Mommie Dearest", "Valley of the Dolls", "All About Eve") and take that sensibility even further.

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I ask in all honesty/What would life be?/Without a song and a dance, what are we?/So I say "Thank you for the music/For giving it to me."

#6

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:18pm

I love "The Pippi Song"!

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Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!

#7

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:21pm

Smiiiiiiileeee baaaaaaaabyyy! :) Love this show.

#8

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 6:26pm

Are there any pictures of professional productions? I've only seen the pictures on the cast recording.

#9

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 6:46pm

ooh, where can the cast recording be bought?

#10

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 6:50pm

Great Show! I saw my friend Joan Ryan play Ginger in LA. She was FANTASTIC...But then, she always is.

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#11

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 7:24pm

"I never went to school! Not once! a fact I can't deny. I never learned to read or write, I can't spell hermaphrodite."

LMAO..I friggin love this show, we did it last year...

I have pics from ours somewhere, college though,not professional, though it looks bettr than most professional ones I think :)

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and all that I could do because of you was talk of love...

#12

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 7:26pm

i did that in a troupe a few years ago as Tina. hehe i got to kill someone! that was fun! I love ruthless *pokes the little signature thing* i use born to entertain for lots of auditions

#13

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/11/05 at 7:52pm

If anyone has pictures, could you please send a link? Thanks!

#14

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 11:26am

I was in the UK Premiere of Ruthless in London a couple of years ago and it was one of the best experiences of my performing life. I think it is one of the funniest book musicals ever written and provides incredibly juicy roles for women! I love it!

#15

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 11:32am

Found a shot of original New York cast members Laura Bundy (Tina), Joel Vig (Sylvia St. Croix) and Donna English (in her Act Two Ginger Del Marco costume) on Laura Bundy's website.

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Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#16

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 12:42pm

My college did this last year, it was hilarious! One of my favorite productions that they did. They had a picture of the little girl blown up into a huge portrait that hung in the living room at the beginning. Every time the lights went out her eyes would glow red! haha, that made me laugh. :)

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"You just have to do what your voice tells you to do." -Linda Eder

#17

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 12:55pm

" Teaching third Grade
Shaping the lives of a New Generation
No Longer
Afriad to get on with my life
and Off Medication"

it's the campiest musical ever written. full of refrences to old movies and some musicals. very good lyrics and a two piano score.

#18

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 4:30pm

i love "mothers and daughters"
my line: why should i cry? i didnt get killed!
was So fun to say. its such a creepy little girl line

#19

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 5:11pm

Here's a pic from a DC area production....Sylvia looks really mannish lol.

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Yes that's me. No, it's not a Rent homage.

#20

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 5:20pm

i think i know that little girl...whats her name?

#21

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 5:23pm

LMAO..that's cuz Slyvia is played by a man...ahhaa

almost always....ours was our costume designer...

I want to find our pics now!

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and all that I could do because of you was talk of love...

#22

re: RUTHLESS!

Posted: 10/12/05 at 7:39pm

What a great little show! I saw it three times during its New York run. The style was very much in the vein of the melodramatic films from the 40's and 50's, primarily "The Bad Seed," which by today's standards is fairly over the top. The show had salutes to everything from Bette Davis' films to "Gypsy" to every Judy Garland performance ever. The very talented Joel Vig played Sylvia, but not as a man in a dress, he played her honestly and hilariously--the entire cast was impeccable.