Looks like Miami prepares to steal some glory from New York’s Broadway! After successful runs in the UK and Canada the unique world-class reggae musical “The Harder They Come” takes the stage of the Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House in Florida. It’s the British theater company production premiere in the United States, but to be precise – it’s a wonderful hello from the seventies, when the legendary Jimmy Cliff movie became an international sensation. The movie tells a story of a young Caribbean guy Ivanhoe Martin who wants to be a pop star and will do anything to achieve that, even becoming a major player in the drug trade. His success displeases the corrupt police force, and when they try to break up one of his concerts, he shoots two of them dead.
Forty years later after the movie’s triumph on the screen The Theatre Royal Stratford East gave the story a fresh start – now on the stage featuring a cast of 16 Jamaican-born performers. Not only for Jamaicans but for the whole generation of Americans it will be a walk down memory lane showcasing some of the rich history of Jamaican Reggae music and hits tunes from the original movie which have become world famous “anthems” such as “Many Rivers to Cross” and “The Harder They Come”. Opening night was also a benefit for the Jamaican Children’s Heart Fund (JCHF). The Fund which facilitates open-heart surgery for poor, needy and indigent children in Jamaica through the kind and generous work of surgeons, specialists and other medical personnel of the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Florida who travel to the reggae island once or twice per year to perform such surgeries.
In an interview, the Executive Director of the JCHF Gwendolyn Grant mentioned, that the show is helping to put Jamaican music and culture once again on the world stage. “We are proud to be a part of this process and in a way which will also benefit the children of Jamaica.”
The Guardian reporter went even further while describing the feelings after the show, “Deserves to run longer than the rivers of Babylon.” Well, the rivers of Babylon will run forever, “The Harder they Come” musical takes the Miami stage till September,13 only… Hurry up not to miss the biggest reggae event of this summer!
