The Stage

The Harder They Come musical to tour UK

Published Thursday 11 February 2010 at 17:09 by Alistair Smith

Reggae musical The Harder They Come is to tour the UK this summer, launching at Nottingham Playhouse in May.

The Harder They Come is to tour the UK this summer

The show, which is based on the 1972 movie and started life at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2006, has already performed in the West End and in North America.

The UK tour will be produced by UK Arts International, in association with Nottingham Playhouse. As well as Nottingham, it will visit Birmingham Hippodrome, West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Northampton Derngate, the New Wimbledon Theatre, The Lowry, Oxford Playhouse and the Cardiff New Theatre. It opens in Nottingham on May 14.

Producer Jan Ryan of UK Arts International said: “What’s really special is the total integrity with which the show has been mounted. It is the first genuine black Caribbean musical to be staged in the UK. Through Perry Henzell’s creative vision and supported by a top production team, the live show has an authenticity and truthfulness which energises audiences as much as the performers.

“And though the songs were all written in the early seventies they’re still as fresh today – not just with an audience that remembers them from their youth, but with a young audience – black and white – that identifies with these timeless popular classics.”