Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN at Fulton

Fulton’s new production of Something Rotten is actually fresh as a daisy.  The story, songs, and silliness all combine for a fun night out, especially for audience members who are musical theater buffs.

 Bryant Martin and Jordan De Leon play the Bottom Brothers, Nick and Nigel.  The siblings are renaissance era playwrights desperately looking for their first big hit. Martin and De Leon play roles similar to Bob Newhart and Jerry Seinfeld in their own eponymous TV shows. While not especially interesting or funny on their own, each actor plays a solid straight man reacting to a slew of wacky side characters.

Speaking of wacky side characters, we are introduced to Tyler Hanes as Shakespeare if played by Mick Jagger.  Hanes was hilarious in his confidence and self-arrogance as the original rock star of the stage.  Will Power is a great number with a lot of energy and more than a hint of cocky swagger.

Blake Hammond is a hoot as the great soothsayer, Nostradamus.  His visions of the future of theater are shared in the showstopper, A Musical, which simultaneously highlights the strengths and the absurdities of this particular artform.  His predictions motivate the Bottom brothers to write the world's first musical, and attempt to beat Shakespeare at his own game.

My favorite performer was Lucy Godinez playing Nick’s enlightened wife, Bea.  She was confident, sassy, and smart in both her delivery and presentation.  Godinez has an amazing set of pipes that she puts to full use in her number, Right Hand Man.  I look forward to seeing more of her on the Fulton stage in the near future.

While the plot and jokes of Something Rotten will be appreciated by most audience members, it will be especially welcomed by musical theater nerds who recognize the beginnings riffs of Pippin’s Magic to Do and inside jokes about a certain Technicolor Dreamcoat.  The more you know, the more you will laugh.

All in all, Something Rotten is enjoyable, silly, and a great start to Fulton’s 2023-24 season.