“Ruthless!The Musical”

***** “When is it my turn?”, “Don’t I get a dream for myself? These are questions in the musical “Gypsy” about a stage mother and her two daughters. But the truth is that the mother, Mama Rose had her own desires to be a star, and when that failed, she looked at her daughters to take on her trip to stardom. In the satirical, somewhat hysterical  “Ruthless! The Musical” with a book and lyrics by Joel Paley and music by Marvin Laird, now on the stage at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest, you will find a group of characters that will make you recall the “Gypsy” moments, but with a little twist!

For those who attend Citadel on a regular basis, it is always amazing what they do when it comes to sets, considering the very limited space they have. In this case Bob Knuth has outdone himself, creating two major sets that are switched over during a 15 minute intermission. The story is a simple one. There is a school play, “Pippi Longstockings” and Tina Denmark ( a sterling performance by Catharina Araujo, who is adorable and has amazing stage presence/ there is another performer , Olivia Mulder who also plays this role on an alternating basis), wants to play the lead role. Her mother, Judy ( deftly handled by Annie Beaubien) is a typical homemaker, and while she knows that her daughter is cute and sparkling, is not the pushy stage mother that Mama Rose was.

Enter, Sylvia St. Croix ( an amazing performance and character creation by Bob Bullen) who will do anything and everything to make Tina the star that she deserves to be. During the course of this play, roughly 2 1/2 hours including a 15 minute intermission, we will watch the ambitious Tina, after being passed over for the lead by Miss Thorn ( a very funny Samantha Mayer ) find her own way to reach the stardom that was destined to be hers. What you will find is something you might never expect.

Under the slick direction of Christina Ramirez, who also handled the choreography, you will see that there are some secrets that will come to light as we go from the first act to the second. I want to mention the other performers in this very funny comedy. Jenny Rudnick plays Lita, Judy’s mother, and Tina’s grandmother, supposedly. She is a hoot as she sings ” I Hate Musicals”, and later we find out that all things are not as they may seem, and all the characters are not what they might have been. I hate giving away some of the fun things that this story brings to the stage, so I will let you figure it out by seeing this production. Melody Rowland handles the other roles to perfection and last but not least, the voice of Kyle Twomey offstage is of great importance. Remember the line “There are no small parts, only small actors” from The Fantastiks”?

“Ruthless!  The Musical” will continue thru – May 17th with performances as follows: