Talk about a rollicking good time...director Kristy Meanor's goofy, irreverent, anachronistically hysterical production of the 2015 musical Something Rotten opened on Thursday, and had the audience in stitches throughout!
Two acts of mile-a-minute repartee with ribald double-entendre and countless references to English literature and history, and tongue-in-cheek nods to innumerable contemporary musicals, demands we pay strict attention for fear of missing out on the jokes.
A Minstrel [Taylor Finch] sets the time as 1595 in "Welcome to the Renaissance", and we're off with the Depot's 21-member ensemble actors on a madcap romp led by the Bottom Brothers -- impatient and competitive Nick [Jonathan Wilson] and even-tempered Nigel [Jay Russell] -- whose funding for their new play will be cut off by their patroness Lady Clapham [Jan Roeton] unless it's finished overnight. Stuck without any ideas, and jealous of their chief rival the narcissistic William Shakespeare [Jeff Langham in top form as "the Bard"], "God I Hate Shakespeare" sets up the battles yet to come.
Desperate for ideas and without ready cash, Nick rejects his wife Bea's [Sarah Kay] feminist suggestion that women are men's equals and that she could help by getting a job. -- Money-lender Shylock [Eric Arvidson at his best] is eager to help, but it's illegal to employ a Jew; so Nick settles on advice from soothsayer Nostradamus [Cushing Phillips], who predicts that the future of theatre will be in the form of plays where actors sing their lines and burst into song and dance for no apparent reason: "A Musical" is the highlight of Act I.
Nigel meanwhile falls in love with Portia [Rachel Pickering Seeley], the daughter of a Puritan Brother Jeremiah [Bradley Podliska], who does his best to thwart both his daughter's romance and the "immoral" theatre which, after all, features actors in drag, and contains subject matter that corrupts the local populace. -- Their romantic scenes are infused with a lot of tomfoolery: delightful.
And that's just the set-up in Something Rotten [book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell; music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick]. -- Complications build with each successive moment, disguises and cross-dressing manipulate the antic action, and Nostradamus's bewildering confusion turns the plot of Shakespare's most famous play into an "Omelette". Never mind: just go along for the ride with this talented crew, and Mr. Phillips's Nostradamus chews up the scenery with such relish that alone is worth the price of admission.
Daniel Harms creates dynamic, razzle-dazzle, and energetic choreography for the ensemble and for himself to support the story and characters.
The production is a visual delight, from the faux-Renaissance and brightly comical musical theatre Chorus costumes by Suzanne Booth, to clever scenery [Charles "Eddie" Moncrief III] and Thomas Rodman's robust lighting.
Music Director Dr. Damian Womack is assisted by Sound and Music Tech from Jerry Parker; together, they guide the company and feature some excellent voices [Ms. Seeley, Ms. Kay and Ms. Finch are standouts, with Mr. Wilson demonstrating a musical theatre triple threat actor/singer/dancer to center the conflict and its resolution.
For a fresh take on musical theatre with a welcome dose of schmalz for good measure, Something Rotten hits all the marks for a fine evening out.
