"The style of the show is so high camp there ought to be a sleepaway version. The actors give the material their big-voiced, big-haired all, but the antics often feel forced rather than delirious...As a kind of Theater of the Ridiculous, it isn’t ridiculous enough. In a decade dominated by reality TV, this satire loses fizz."
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"The preternaturally self-assured Tori Murray plays this Shirley Temple of doom in the show’s current revival, and the joke still kills. Not everything else about Joel Paley and Marvin Laird’s musical holds up quite so well, but it's an enjoyable slice of cyanide birthday cake. The show-tuneful score is lively and the main cast is strong…Rotten as the state of Tina Denmark may be, we can’t resist watching."
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"10-year-old Tori Murray plays the psycho third-grader with panache: She can sing, and she’s funnier than most of the adults in the cast. Too bad the production, itself, isn’t as assured...A couple of other actors border on the amateurish — frustrating when they waste songs that, in the right hands, could stop a show."
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"This chintzy production suffers a tendency to have actors rush their lines and, at press time, still felt a bit under-rehearsed, which is a shame because there’s great stuff in this vaudevillian-inspired script. But over time, the proper balance might fall into place. To borrow a lyric from its title track, 'Ruthless!' stops just short of toothless."
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"Paley helms a zippy and efficient production in the first half that becomes increasingly plodding as the actors claw and mug for every last laugh. Contemporary references (like Caitlyn Jenner) have been added to the script in an almost perfunctory manner. Ninety minutes is long enough for this fun diversion that doesn't quite rise to the level of a gut-busting so-bad-it's-good classic, try though it might."
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"Everything we see after Tina 'pays' for what she's done strains visibly, and shows that excess, too, can be taken to excess. Except during the truly crazy final few minutes, the plot gets away from Paley and fails to capitalize on the endlessly inventive energy that fuels the show so capably early on...This production may lack all the guts it ought to have, but Tori Murray possesses them in spades."
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"Tiny Tina Denmark is anything but sweet. And this makes the revival of 'Ruthless!' an ideal treat for those who enjoy the camp humor of female-driven cult classics like 'Mommie Dearest'...While Paley’s book is perhaps the strongest element, Laird’s music is also a delight...While 'Ruthless!' is certainly campy summer fun, there’s also a deeper message, if you feel like digging a bit. Talent can be a curse, a virus even, passed down from one generation to the next."
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"The cast is absolutely superb from start to finish...You will marvel at the genius firmly planted in Marvin Laird’s memorable musical score, and the riotously funny book and lyrics by Joel Paley could very well leave you with a belly ache from laughing so hard...This show will no doubt ignite a renewed appreciation for over the top, camp/horror musicals! I say bravo to that, original works with razor sharp teeth are exactly what Broadway needs."
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