What some people won’t do to get a hit record! And I’m not just talking payola. That’s small time, buster. I’m talking something bigger, something much more explosive. I’m talking about a hit of one sort following a hit of another.
While I’m at it, what some people won’t do for a hit show! I’m talking about the longtime Public Theater influencers. On their Newman Theater stage, where A Chorus Line and Hamilton were first seen, they look to be premiering a next hit, something not exactly reminiscent of the hit Aaron Burr pulled off with Alexander Hamilton in life and in Hamilton.
Suzan-Lori Parks, whom those same Public Theater influencers have turned to more than once for a hot number, has adapted the 1972 reggae movie hit, The Harder They Come, into a new musical with full-out stage-hit potential.
[Read Sandy MacDonald’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
Full disclosure: I missed Perry Henzell’s Jimmy Cliff-honoring flick. So, there will be no comparisons here of the odious or any other kind.
I’ll only report that to blast (no pun intended) this take on The Harder They Come, the Public’s wise heads have rounded up a list of experts who know what to do in support of Parks’ work, and Cliff’s. That’s in the company of various other songwriters, including Parks herself and Johnny Nash, whose “I Can See Clearly Now” kicks off the second act.
All hail — for their sizzling and atmospheric reflection of 1970s Kingston, Jamaica — director Tony Taccone, set designers Clint Ramos & Diggle, costumer Emilio Sosa, lighting designer Japhy Weideman, sound designer Walter Trarbach, fight and intimacy director Rocio Mendez, choreographer Edgar Godineaux with Sergio Trujillo, and others far too numerous to credit right this moment.
On exiting flashy, splashy The Harder They Come, I overheard one enthusiastic fellow exclaim, “What a fun show!” I thought that thanks to all the above-mentioned contributors he’s certainly got it right. I also thought that he doesn’t have it entirely right. More than that, he may have gotten it quite wrong.
Parks has never been known to offer audiences an unadulterated good time. She has her themes, her deep concerns about the Black experience and the tragedies and ironies often, if not always, involved.
She strides that twisting path once again as Ivan (Natey Jones) arrives from the country to hectic Kingston, instantly letting everyone within earshot know he’s in their midst to become a star. He’s immediately mocked by the jaded citizens within earshot. They’ve heard it all before.
So , perhaps needless to say, have ticket buyers. They — we — know that by final curtain Ivan will show them all and become the star he aims to be. That plotline is time-tested and inevitable.
But is it? Parks isn’t so sure. She starts out with a standard boy-meets-girl notion but skips the boy-loses-girl-boy-gets-girl boilerplate. She skips straight from boy-meets-girl, Elsa (Meecah), to boy-gets-girl then goes into the corrupt Kingston woods. In his determined rise to stardom, Ivan meets equally inflexible obstacles in the persons of Preacher and pastor of the Holy Redeemer Church (J. Bernard Calloway), scheming record exec Hilton (Garfield Hammonds at the press preview I saw), and tough ganja,(cannabis) trader Jose (Dominique Johnson).
In what Parks writes as a morality tale, the only two who support Ivan — and only as long as their abiding ethics allow — are Elsa and Ivan’s mother, Daisy (Jeannette Bayardelle, straight from her stand-out Girl From the North Country showing).
The dilemma Elsa and Daisy share in their attitude toward Ivan is his reaction to wanting the song, “The Harder They Come,” which he’s written and recorded with Hilton’s backing, to reach and climb the charts. Stymied by the man who’s ready to hand Ivan the insulting sum of $20 for signing an exclusive artist contract, the angry reggae songsmith eventually loses all I-want-to-be-a-star control.
And here comes a heavy spoiler alert necessary to explain Parks’ dramatic, even tragic intentions: Ivan, who’s come into possession of a pistol (for the $20 he finally accepts), uses it when confronted by a police officer, and goes on the run. It’s a run that, as a result of the notoriety, finally gets “The Harder They Come” airplay and the star-clinching hitdom Ivan has now recklessly and criminally sought.
Put aside Parks’ allowing Ivan’s evasion to extend longer than seems likely, she’s questioning whether that sort of achievement deserves a Top 40 celebration. “No” is her implied answer, although celebration is what Ivan — captured or not — attains. It’s a caustic observation, however, that not every theatergoer gets, as the “What a fun show!” audience member exemplifies.
Still, The Harder They Come is a fun show, as the 25 song inclusions prove (including “The Ballad of Ivan,” a Parks original). Also, Jones’ initial light-hearted, broad-smile performance slowly transforming into wide-eyed desperation is front and center and center, closely followed by Meecah and Bayardelle and the sleek villainy of Hammonds, Calloway, and Johnson. Worth the admission are Jones and Bayardelle rafters-ringing on “Many Rivers to Cross.” Let’s hope for quick release of the original cast album.
Reviewer’s note: During the 1960s and early 1970s, I edited a music-business trade magazine, where gossip was often the order of the day. I don’t remember hearing of a single reaching the top in the aftermath of an Ivan-like event. But knowing the back story on a few shady labels, I wouldn’t rule it out.
The Harder They Come opened March 15, 2023, at the Public Theater and runs through April 2. Tickets and information: publictheater.org
