The Harder They Come NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (123)
See it if you like joyful musicals with incredible voices and don’t mind a reconfiguring of a well known film for the stage.
Don't see it if you don’t enjoy a musical set in 1970s Jamaica or prefer a faithful retelling of the original material.
See it if you like new risks in musical theatre. This combines various mediums to create a uniquely compelling show. Beautifully staged and sung.
Don't see it if you don't like reggae or are uninterested in other cultures. Here a Jamaican folk hero's story is used to tell the story of the island.
See it if you want to see terrific dancing, tuneful songs, and excellent acting. You will be dancing in your seat!
Don't see it if you don't like musicals. Read more
See it if You enjoy reggae, stories of struggle against societal prejudices, Jimmy Cliff music
Don't see it if You don't like reggae, you prefer glossy production musicals, you never heard of ganja
See it if You like musical theatre, and/or reggae music, or where a fan of the film. Some good performances, we’ll sung and played, of familiar songs
Don't see it if Your not into musicals. This is a good show, although not as good as the original TRSE version which was written by the original film maker.
See it if if you are looking for a new musical based on previous material. The cast and songs are great.. Jimmy Cliff music and great story
Don't see it if if you are tired of juke box like musicals. harder they come is a movie brought to stage.
See it if Jimmy Cliff and other reggae beats. Great voice talents. Entertaining … sway in your seats.
Don't see it if Lacks hard-hitting grittiness.
See it if You like reggae music or new musicals
Don't see it if Looking for a deep show
Critic Reviews (13)
" 'The Harder They Come' falls right into the trap of the rest of that title lyric: “the harder they fall.”
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“New, exciting musicals are hard to come by, and ’The Harder They Come’ features a big cast with big beats — and big potential.”
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“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.”
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“ ‘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.”
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“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.”
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“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.”
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“ ‘The Harder They Come’ is a fun show, as the 25 song inclusions prove.”
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“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.”
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