Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN! is Anything But at Lyric Stage Boston

When it comes to playwrights and poets, William Shakespeare towers above everyone else who has ever put pen to paper. After all, he is the greatest writer ever in the English language, and his 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and three long narrative poems have been translated into virtually every living language.

Surprisingly little is known, however, about the Bard of Avon. His looks and religious leanings are mysteries, and there is even enduring speculation that works credited to him were written by others.

The theory that Shakespeare may have purloined parts of his plays from others is played for humor in “Something Rotten!” – the Tony Award-nominated musical comedy with music and lyrics by brothers Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, and book by John O’Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick, that made its Broadway premiere at the St. James Theatre on April 12, 2015. A 2017 national tour began at Citizens Opera House in Boston in January of that year.

Now through June 7, the Lyric Stage Company of Boston is presenting a wildly entertaining production of “Something Rotten!” In her Lyric Stage directing debut, Ilana Ransom Toeplitz delivers the goods, turning the 16-member cast into a wondrously in-sync ensemble that hits its mark every time.

The action takes place in Elizabethan London during the English Renaissance, when writers were the equivalent of today’s influencers. Leading that pack is Shakespeare. Jared Troilo, whose considerable comedy chops have been on display in recent seasons at Lyric Stage in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” and “The Drowsy Chaperone,” plays the writer as a self-aggrandizing Renaissance-era rock god. Troilo’s swagger elicits some serious swooning from Shakespeare’s onstage admirers, and some Troilo fans down-front in the audience, too.

Troilo’s performance makes clear that what seems like malicious intent really comes from Shakespeare’s deep insecurity. His desire to succeed is not based on anyone else’s failure. If others fail, that’s fine by him, but he doesn’t set out to make it happen, as laid out in act two’s “It’s Hard to Be the Bard.”  

Set in 1595, the story revolves around brothers Nick (Ryan Mardesich) and Nigel (Ohad Ashkenazi) Bottom, playwrights whose careers are wilting in the shadow of the one and only Will Shakespeare. Stand-up guy Nick and his goofball younger brother Nigel are trying to generate interest in themselves with their new play, “Richard III,” only to learn that Shakespeare has bested them once again. The Bottom Brothers are left seething once again on act one’s “God, I Hate Shakespeare,” with Nick sick of watching the Bard, who he thinks is second-rate, succeed by stealing plot points from others including Nigel, while he and his sharp-as-a-tack wife Bea (KRISTIAN ESPIRITU) are barely scraping by.

The first demonstration of the rivalry – and perhaps the first example of Shakespeare in the Park – comes in “Will Power,” when the entire ensemble gathers for an outdoor performance by their favorite writer.

When a soothsayer, Nostradamus (Joy Clark), predicts that song-and-dance shows will be the next big thing, the Bottom brothers set out to write the world’s very first musical. Shakespeare, of course, has no plans either to cede the stage or to share the spotlight. The all-company number “A Musical!” spells out the wonderful oddities of musical theater and the pure pleasure it can provide. Insider jokes and sight gags lampooning modern-day musicals from “West Side Story,” “Cats,” “Les Misérables,” “Pippin,” “Gypsy,” “A Chorus Line,” and “Cabaret” to “Dear Evan Hansen” raise the fun exponentially for musical-theater fans and anyone who just enjoys clever comedy bits.

Also in the mix is a comedic Shylock who becomes an eager theater producer. Watching Bobbie Steinbach mix it up with her castmates – even outdancing a few of the younger ones – is one of this production’s many delights. Also terrific in supporting roles are Lauren Dodds, in her Lyric Stage debut, as the Puritan, Portia, who wins Nigel’s heart – Bryan Miner as Lord Clapham, and Kenny Kelleher, in his Lyric Stage debut, as the high-camp Brother Jeremiah, a scene stealer of the first order.

The ensemble, comprised of Temma Beaudreau, Elliana Karris, and in their Lyric Stage debuts Jonah Barricklo, Danny Hernandez, Jennifer Prestin, Indijhan Richard – whose high jumps are a marvel to behold – and Colin Welter, is pure perfection on Chrisopher Shin’s imaginative, quickstep choreography, which seamlessly weaves through the story.

Music director and keyboardist Katya Stanislavkaya leads a strong seven-piece band tucked away on Cameron McEachern’s set with its weathered wood look, while Chloe Moore’s costumes capture what we know of the Elizabethan era with a host of interesting fabrics.

While “Something Rotten!” isn’t only a reminder of the joy of musical theater, but also a great musical in its own right.

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