Harlequin Productions will present Joel Paley and Marvin Laird’s smash off-Broadway musical Ruthless! – The Stage Mother of all Musicals, this August 16 through September 15 in at the State Theater in downtown Olympia. Aaron Lamb, Associate Artistic Director, will direct. Tickets are available online at harlequinproductions.org, by phone at 360-786-0151, or in-person at the Harlequin Productions Box Office, open 12-6pm Tues-Friday at the State Theater, 202 4th Ave E, Olympia WA, 98501.
Eight-year-old Tina Denmark was born to be a star. Nothing, and no one, is going to stand in her way… except maybe her mother. A send-up of high-camp classics like ‘Gypsy’, and a parody of ‘The Bad Seed’ and ‘All About Eve,’ this musical farce is fast, furious and loaded with charm. In Harlequin’s production, the cast of eight over-the-top female roles are played by six actors (five female and one male), many of whom are both Olympia locals and Harlequin first-timers.
Aaron Lamb, Associate Artistic Director for Harlequin Productions, will direct. This season, Lamb has directed Three Days of Rain and I Am My Own Wife. In ten seasons as an actor and director with Harlequin he has also directed August: Osage County, Hedda Gabler, Time Stands Still, Middletown, and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. As an actor, he most recently appeared last season, as Gary Essendine in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter. Lamb has worked in Seattle for Village Theatre, Taproot Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, and Seattle Shakespeare Company, and has worked regionally throughout the country. He was awarded a Seattle Critics (Footlight) Award for his work as Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband at Taproot Theatre, and the Memphis Critics (Ostrander) Award for Best Actor for his work as Jerry in The Full Monty at Playhouse in the Square. He holds an MFA in acting from California State University, Fullerton and a BA from Washington State University.
The cast includes 11-year-old Aubrey Thomas (5th Avenue’s The Sound of Music, Seattle Children’s Theatre’s Shrek), Charlotte Darlington (Saint Martin’s University’s Urinetown), Eleise Moore (Harlequin Production’s First Date), Gregory Conn (Harlequin Productions’ Jesus Christ Superstar), Martha Kathryn Smith (ACT Theatre’s The Wolves), and Janette Oswald (Harlequin Productions’ August: Osage County).
SPECIAL DATES FOR THE AUDIENCE Post-show Talkback: Sunday, August 26, 2018 at 2:00pm Pay-What-You-Can: Wednesday, August 22, 2018, at 8:00pm Ladies’ Night Out: Friday, August 24, 2018, at 8:00pm Pride Night: Friday, August 31, 2018 at 8:00pm
