'Ruthless' looks behind the scenes

Keeping a straight face during rehearsals for Towle Theater's musical comedy "Ruthless" has been a struggle for director Jeff Casey.

"There are few shows that I can say that I've ever worked on in my lifetime where I can say that I've laughed during every single rehearsal, and this is one of those shows," he said. "I giggle the whole time. It's hilarious."

Opening Feb. 25 and running through March 13, "Ruthless" tells the tale of Tina Denmark, an ambitious child actor who takes extreme measures in her pursuit of the lead role in a school play. Her mother, Judy Denmark, also discovers she has aspirations to act and finds her life spinning as drastically out of control as her daughter's.

Featuring songs such as "Born to Entertain," "The Pippi Song" and "Parents and Children," "Ruthless" debuted off–Broadway in 1992. It received five Drama Desk Award nominations and took home the New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off–Broadway Musical.

Casey said the play pays tribute to melodramatic early and mid 20th century films such as "Gypsy," "All About Eve," "The Women," "Valley of the Dolls" with similar plot lines, thematic elements and character traits.

"It uses those movies and the style of those movies to set the tone of the show, and that's what really appealed to me," he said. "It explores greed and ambition and money and power and show business, but in a hilarious, campy and fun way."

Nikki Dizon, 25, from Tinley Park, plays third-grader Tina Denmark in Towle's "Ruthless" with Merrillville's Robin Childress as her mother. Additionally, Mary McClelland, from Hammond, and Reneisha Jenkins, from Chicago, each assume two roles, and Kevin Bellamy, Towle's director of administration, takes on the role of Tina's grandmother.

"Stylistically, the writers give a lot of liberty to producers and the directors and even the actors in the show and offers the opportunity not to limit yourself casting–wise," Casey said. "It adds a fun element that you don't want the audience to be aware of it the whole time obviously, but when it's brought out in the script, it just adds another element to the comedy."

Next up for Hammond's Towle Theater is a production of the drama "Good Boys and True," which they will stage at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, June 22 through July 9.