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Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks adapts the 1972 Jamaican film The Harder They Come into a thrilling new musical. Get The Harder They Come tickets on New York Theatre Guide.
The Harder They Come musical centers on Ivan, an aspiring music star looking to break into the Jamaican scene. Shortly after arriving in Kingston, he gets a record deal and a new romance, but things don't stay perfect for long. He quickly sees the dark underside of the industry and how it's rigged, and his discoveries threaten his life and even Jamaican society.
The stage musical features the Grammy Award-winning songs of Jimmy Cliff, who starred as Ivan in The Harder They Come film. These songs include ones he performed in the film, such as the title track and "You Can Get It If You Really Want." Parks's script is adapted from the original screenplay by Trevor Rhone and Perry Henzell, who also produced and directed the movie.
Tony Taccone directs The Harder They Come off Broadway; he is the former artistic director of Eureka Theatre and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. While at the former, he commissioned Tony Kushner to write Angels in America, which became one of the most celebrated plays of the 20th century. Co-directing is Sergio Trujillo, a Broadway choreographer best known for his Tony-nominated work on Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations.
The Harder They Come musical celebrates the movie's 50th anniversary.
Get tickets to The Harder They Come in New York.
Photo credit: Suzan-Lori Parks by Stephanie Diani
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February 16th, 2023
April 9th, 2023
Musical, Opening Soon
Public Theater
By: Suzan-Lori Parks, adapted from the film produced and directed by Perry Henzell and co-written with Trevor Rhone
Songs by: Jimmy Cliff
Director: Tony Taccone and Sergio Trujillo
Choreography: Edgar Godineaux
Cast list: Jeannette Bayardelle, Shawn Bowers, Andrew Clarke, Jamal Christopher Douglas, Dana Marie Ingraham, Dominique Johnson, Chelsea-Ann Jones, Dudney Joseph Jr, Dwight Xaveir Leslie, Morgan McGhee, Meecah, Jacob Ming-Trent, Alysha Morgan, Ken Robinson, Housso Semon
Other info: Music supervision by Kenny Seymour
Read our five-star review of The Harder They Come, a musical based on the same-named 1972 film, playing off Broadway at The Public Theater through April 9.