Natey Jones gives a star-making turn in The Harder they Come, a new musical adaptation (there have been several earlier attempts) of the 1972 film that brought Jimmy Cliff and reggae music to the masses. As Ivan, Jones charts the evolution (or devolution) of a local boy into folk hero and outlaw. With a book and new songs from Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan Lori-Parks and winning turns from Jeannette Bayardelle as Ivan’s mother, J. Bernard Calloway as a corrupt preacher, and Meecah, as Ivan’s girlfriend Elsa, this musical proves fresh and vital.