One hundred and forty years ago Charles Dillon built the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Eighty-eight years later, Perry Henzell and Trevor Rhone brought reggae and a proudly independent Jamaica to the world with their feature film.
Thirty-four more full rotations and the musical premiered at Stratford East.
Now Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks brings over her New York production to the place where it all started theatrically. I know that’s a lot of people, places and times, but it’s only fitting given the tale’s breadth and legacy. It took Henzell three years and four separate shoots to make Jamaica’s first feature film.
Six more years of lugging film cans to 43 different countries in search of distribution followed. But all the work paid off, cementing the then-fledgling musician Jimmy Cliff as a star of the screen and helping to launch reggae to the outside world. Stratford East rightfully created the first musical version in 2006, which then flipped to the West End, then Toronto and Miami (rather oddly).
Now, to celebrate their 140th year, we are back in the blistering heat of Kingston.
Based on the real outlaw Rhyging, Ivan Martin moves to the capital to become a singer and collides with the crooked establishment, the crooked music industry and then the even more crooked drugs trade.
This tale of resistance in the face of adversity still rings true. We are treated to an even more topical, if slightly uneven, version from some very talented folk.
Parks and director Matthew Xia have deepened the female characters, particularly Elsa, although Madeline Charlemagne’s celestial voice doesn’t entirely disguise the character’s “stand by your man” drive.
Parks also gifts us two new musical theatre bangers: Hymm, ignited by Charlemagne, and Hero Don’t Die. Stepping into the mighty Cliff’s shoes as Ivan must be daunting, but Natey Jones doesn’t even blink.
Whether grooving with 70s funkiness or vibrating with righteous anger, this man can do it all.
Together, our lead couple embody the production’s best qualities: its blend of reggae’s swagger and swing with the intensity and vocal rigour of musical theatre. Boy oh boy do they bring the heat!
Jason Pennycooke provides pleasant comic relief as the crooked preacher, while the chorus of drug dealers, local Kingstonians and music crowds swell in and out of Simon Kenny’s courtyard set.
Shelley Maxwell’s enigmatic choreography captures the zest and vibrancy of the film well.
Jessica Cabassa’s costumes bring the colour without the cheapness that sometimes dogs stage adaptations of films.
For any reggae fans, the classics are given full chorus and musical theatre flair—Cliff himself of course, alongside Desmond Dekker, The Maytals and Johnny Nash—while newer songs wring more sombre tones from the evening.
Everyone is guaranteed to leave beaming, which is rare.
Even with a slight dip in focus in the second act, this return proves the enduring power of the original story and it’s world-changing music.
The message of persistence rings loud and clear: “You can get it if you really want”—repeat until true.
The Harder They Come runs until 1 November 2025 at Stratford East.
