The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come
Closed 1h 50m NYC: East Village
83% 123 reviews
83%
(123 Ratings)
Positive
88%
Mixed
9%
Negative
3%
Members say
Entertaining, Great singing, Absorbing, Ambitious, Delightful

Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' musical adaptation of the 1972 film of the same name.

Read more Show less

Critic Reviews (13)

The New York Times
March 15th, 2023

" 'The Harder They Come' falls right into the trap of the rest of that title lyric: “the harder they fall.”
Read more

New York Theatre Guide
March 16th, 2023

“New, exciting musicals are hard to come by, and ’The Harder They Come’ features a big cast with big beats — and big potential.”
Read more

New York Magazine / Vulture
March 15th, 2023

“The Public Theater’s adaptation takes the film’s subject and setting a lot more seriously, so much so that its creators struggle to stuff in everything they want to comment on, modify, and underline from the original, alongside all the hit songs.”
Read more

The Observer
March 15th, 2023

“ ‘Harder’ isn’t a bad musical, just one caught between honoring its Jamaican roots and razzle-dazzling a general audience. It could be bolder, angrier, more reckless.”
Read more

Lighting & Sound America
March 15th, 2023

“Onstage, The Harder They Come is a slick, two-dimensional melodrama set to a playlist of reggae hits, but Parks' by-the-numbers approach does away with the film's blaxploitation edge…The score, expanded with additional reggae hits and some contemporary contributions by Parks, remains eminently listenable and most likely you will find yourself swaying in your seat from time to time. But the numbers address the characters and their situations in only the most generalized way… One could arguably reshuffle the song order without materially affecting the narrative.”
Read more

Talkin' Broadway
March 15th, 2023

“Many hands, many voices, and yet all cut from the same exuberant cloth. By any measure, 'The Harder They Come' is a decided success for the Public Theater and deserves a long life after this run has ended.”
Read more

New York Stage Review
March 15th, 2023

“So much top-drawer talent has been poured into this production, it’s dispiriting to see it put in service to such a simplistic scenario. At best, the stage version may inspire you to re-watch the movie, which unfolds in gritty detail like a semi-documentary.”
Read more

New York Stage Review
March 15th, 2023

“ ‘The Harder They Come’ is a fun show, as the 25 song inclusions prove.”
Read more