The Harder They Come hits Toronto
Musical is based on 1972 film that made Jimmy Cliff a star
Last Updated: Monday, July 20, 2009 | 4:50 PM ET
CBC News
The cast of The Harder They Come. (Robert Day/Mirvish Productions)In a reggae-tinged blast from the past, the musical The Harder They Come begins its North American tour on a Toronto stage on Tuesday.
Like the 1972 film on which it's based, the musical was written by Jamaica's Perry Henzell.
Henzell died in 2006, but not before he'd written the script for a musical based on his tale of a would-be musician who becomes a wanted man in the mean streets of Kingston, Jamaica.
British producer Jan Ryan brought it to the stage and Theatre Royal Stratford East and UK Arts International have teamed with Mirvish Productions to premiere it in Toronto.
The film, with its track of famous songs such as You Can Get It If You Really Want and Many Rivers to Cross, was a long-running staple of Toronto's repertory theatres. Its popularity grew as Bob Marley made reggae a household word in the 1970s.
It also helped make an international star of reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who played the poor country boy who moves to Kingston to make it big as a reggae singer.
The character, based on a real-life Jamaican criminal, cannot negotiate the politics of the music industry and turns to crime.
"People didn't know where the music was coming from, what it was all about, what motivated it, so the movie showed them … The movie opened up all of that to the world," said Cliff, now 61 and a big supporter of the stage musical.
"I would say (the film) took my career to another level because it gave people an insight into where the music was coming from and it gave people an insight into my artistry as an actor," he added.
Rolan Bell plays the would-be reggae singer who comes to Kingston, Jamaica, in search of fame. (Robert Day/Mirvish Productions)In the stage version, British actor Rolan Bell plays the singer, Ivanhoe Martin. The star of the West End production of The Harder They Come, he also has a recurring role in British soap opera EastEnders.
Most of the cast is of Jamaican descent, according to Mirvish Productions.
The minimalist sets reflect the spare style of Theatre Royal Stratford East, but there is lavish choreography by Jackie Guy.
The score includes Cliff's songs such as Higher and Higher and The Harder They Come, as well as tracks by other Jamaican artists, such as The Melodians' Rivers of Babylon.
Cliff said the play also has a message for audiences about "the spiritual consciousness of Rastafari."
"There is a depth and a universal consciousness of it which I think the world has not really got … I think that is still there to be learned."
The Toronto production, the first stop on an international tour, runs June 21 through Aug. 23 at the Canon Theatre.
With files from the Canadian Press
