Photos Joan Marcus
by Julia Polinsky
Right from the start, Michael James Scott, as The Minstrel, treats the audience
to the opening song (“Welcome to the Renaissance”), a real razzle dazzle, over
the top, you-can’t-touch-this Broadway song and dance. In doublet and
pantaloons. The curtain rises; the ensemble joins in; farthingales sway and
knee boots tap as dancers welcome you to the Renaissance. Indeed. Welcome to Something
Rotten, which delivers the Three S’s of a great musical – Stars, Story, and
Songs -- and adds in Silliness, its own special sauce, in spades.
ichael James Scott as the Minstrel & the
cast
The wonderful Brian d’Arcy James shines as the stolid, not very bright,
tin-eared and talentless Nick Bottom. James sings well, dances competently, and
makes us care about Nick’s anger, frustration, and hopes, squirm at his
considerable mistakes, rejoice at his redemption.
The splendid Christian Borle, deliciously flamboyant as Shakespeare in Leather,
whether he’s being a rock star poet performing in the park, or wrestling with
his writing (“It’s Hard to Be the Bard,” he sings). He lies, cheats,
plagiarizes, steals, and breaks the mold of all our expectations, with great
style, verve, and humor.
(The dance-off argument between the two of them? Tapping perfectly in time to
the words – famous play quotes - they speak? Well, in a show full of laugh-‘til-you-weep
moments, definitely a highlight.)
John Cariani’s Nigel, the geeky, fragile, talented writer brother, could break
your heart with his belief in love, poetry, and being true to yourself. Cariani
does an excellent job of making Nigel adorable.
Brad Oscar as Nostradamus & Brian d'Arcy
James as Nick Bottom
The nut job Nostradamus, beautifully done by Brad Oscar, and Shylock, the
Really Nice Jew, an over the top character from Gerry Vichi, round out the
stellar cast of men. But how about the ladies?
Brooks Ashmanskas as Brother Jeremiah &
Kate Reinders as Portia
Heidi Blickenstaff plays Bea, Nick Bottom’s wife, with lovely warmth and a
golden voice. Kate Reinders makes Portia the Puritan something special: a cross
between a total fangirl and a woman who sees tender truth, and sings of it
quite beautifully.
John Cariani as Nigel Bottom & Brian d'Arcy James as Nick Bottom
Nick and Nigel Bottom, and their third-rate theater company in Elizabethan
London, are about to lose their patron and his support. Shakespeare, The Bard,
has already used the idea for their upcoming show. Nick, the impresario
brother, has one day to come up with a new project. Broke and desperate, Nick
steals his wife’s savings, and goes to a soothsayer for a vision of the future:
what will be the next big thing in theater be?
The answer: Musicals. (hilarious production number, “A Musical”) It takes some
convincing, but Nick decides his troupe will do a musical as their next play.
He makes a very poor choice of subject matter, (insert even more hilarious
production number, “The Black Death”), loses his patron, and goes back to
Nostradamus for more predictions—but this time, Nick wants to know what will be
Shakespeare’s greatest hit, so he can scoop it. Nostradamus obliges. Sort of.
Nick sings his anthem: “Bottom’s Gonna Be on Top,” and all else flows from
there.
Yes, there’s a star-crossed love story. Yes, there’s a dastardly bad guy, who
wants to shut the theater down. Yes, there’s family pressure; yes, there’s an
encounter with the law; yes, yes, yes, everything you want is here. It’s a
musical comedy; you can be pretty sure there will be a happy ending. In this
case, people are true to themselves, accept what happens next, and crack eggs
to make an omelet.
It’s been a while since a new musical had memorable, hummable, spanking new
songs. The awe inspiring creative team of Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick has
written tuneful, melodic silliness with zest, worked hard for some rhymes,
ended up with some groaners, made the audience laugh. Memorable tunes that get
stuck in your head? Huge win.
John O’Farrell’s book works so well, there are no holes to poke, no “if only.”
Littered with references to Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays, O’Farrell also
quote-bombs from musicals by the dozen, so between the musical references and
the Shakespeare in-jokes, you’ll hear something to delight you.
Huge kudos to Gregg Barnes, the costume designer, who had to take these damn
strange and awkward clothes and make them Broadway-worthy.
Scenic design, by Scott Pask, seamlessly moves the action from theater to
Soothsayer’s Alley to home to theater to courtroom to… no, that would be giving
it away.
Lighting by Jeff Croiter is excellent, as is Milagros Medina-Cerdeira’s
inspired makeup design. Peter Hylenski designed the best I’ve encountered in
ages.
Above all, this: to the director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw: mega, mega
congrats for making the show seem like it was effortless. Something Rotten
feels like a group of friends got together and just had fun, and along the way,
came up with a first rate evening of glorious silliness. In a musical about how
hard it is to write and produce for the theater, Nicholaw never lets the work
show.
The payoff for all this inspired lunacy, this theatrical excellence, these
outstanding song-and-dance numbers? Underpinning all the surface action, Something
Rotten has more to offer than inspired musical comedy. It beats the drum of
authenticity, in incident after incident, subplot after subplot. Shylock, the
Really Nice Jew; Bea, Nick’s super-competent wife; Nigel and his beloved
Portia; and especially Nick and Shakespeare: all these characters find out that
it is important to thine own self be true, and thereby hangs a tale. Something
Rotten? Nay; ‘tis something glorious.
St. James Theatre,
246 W. 44th St., New York, between Broadway and 8th Avenue
Box office hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-8pm, Sun, Noon-6pm
Website: rottenbroadway.com
Tickets at telecharge.com or 212-239-6200
