RUTHLESS! STAR TORI MURRAY ATTENDS HALO AWARDS

Tori Murray

Tori Murray, the young star of Off-Broadway’s smash musical RUTHLESS!, recently attended the 17th annual Nickelodeon HALO Awards at Pier 36 in New York City. The HALO Awards honor teens that are making a difference and Justin Bieber was this year’s recipient of the first ever HALO Hall of Fame Award for his work with Make-A-Wish. The awards will be broadcast November 29th at 8 PM on Nickelodeon, TVLand and CMT.

RUTHLESS! opened July 13th at St. Luke’s Theatre to unanimous rave reviews led by Entertainment Weekly which called the show “Uproarious! A mash-up of THE BAD SEED, GYPSY, ALL ABOUT EVE, plus the films of Douglas Sirk and John Waters!” Book and lyrics are by Joel Paley with music by Marvin Laird. Paley also directed the original 1992 Off-Broadway production as well as productions in L.A., South Beach and the record-breaking concert event starring Bernadette Peters. He once again serves as director of the newest incarnation of RUTHLESS!, with Marvin Laird on board as music supervisor as well.

When THE BAD SEED meets GYPSY, it's fun for the whole dysfunctional family! Tina Denmark is a pretty, charming and diabolical eight-year-old who "was born to entertain." With the encouragement of slick and overbearing potential agent Sylvia St. Croix, Tina will do anything to play the lead in her school play. The question is, where does such remarkable talent and unstoppable ambition come from? The answer is shocking in this award-winning Stage Mother of all musicals.

11-year-old Tori Murray has scored a triumph with her Off-Broadway debut in RUTHLESS! Rex Reed reported in the Observer that “Tori Murray looks like Shirley Temple and sings like Ethel Merman!” and Theatermania said she “has one of the most powerful sets of pipes currently exhibited Off-Broadway in this genuine star turn. Tori Murray has a big future in showbiz!”

Also featured in the cast of RUTHLESS! are Kim Maresca (Westport’s TWELFTH NIGHT), Paul Pecorino (DEVIL BOYS FROM BEYOND, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW), Rita McKenzie (ETHEL MERMAN’S BROADWAY, RUTHLESS! L.A.), Andrea McCullough (URINETOWN, GREASE), and Jennifer Diamond (INTO THE WOODS, JEKYLL & HYDE).

The playing schedule for RUTHLESS! is Mondays and Fridays at 8 PM and Saturdays at 2 PM at St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 West 46 Street (just west of Eighth Ave.) Tickets are available through www.RuthlessTheMusical.com or by calling 212-239-6200.