Interview: A Gateway to Laughter & A Love for Theatre: Tyler Hanes & Bryant Martin Preview MSMT's SOMETHING ROTTEN!

“Whether you get all the references or not, this show is still smart and funny. It’s a little like HAMILTON, which creates a gateway into history, in that it offers the audience a gateway into theatre. It makes them interested in the art form as a whole,” Bryant Martin says.

“And the audience will be impressed with the singing and dancing – with the pure spectacle of what they are seeing on stage.  There is something in this show for everybody from the book to the musical aspects,” concurs Tyler Hanes.

Hanes, who plays William Shakespeare, and Martin, who portrays his rival playwright and theatrical producer, Nick Bottom, are waxing enthusiastic about SOMETHING ROTTEN!, the last main stage show of Maine State Music Theatre’s 2023 season which begins performances on August 9th.

Both actors are returning to Maine and are thrilled to have an opportunity to make their role debuts in this hilarious comedy, set in Elizabethan England, in which would-be rivals to William Shakespeare, Nick Bottom and his brother Nigel, devise a way to rescue their flagging troupe of players by writing the first musical. Martin, who last appeared in MSMT’s co-production with Portland Stage, THE ALL NIGHT STRUT, and starred in shows such as OKLAHOMA and BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY in the interim, says playing Nick Bottom “is a dream role. He is the straight man of the show, and everything bounces off him.  The script is so clever in the way it switches from regular dialogue to verse and plays fast and loose with the time period.”

Hanes, who last appeared at MSMT 10 years ago in MARY POPPINS, has been busy on Broadway in such shows as CATS,  believes that playing Rum Tum Tugger opened him up as an actor “to saying yes. It prepared me to take on roles like this one that are so much fun, so absurd.  I believe everything leads to the moment you are currently in.”

Hanes and Martin cannot praise the Kirkpatrick Brothers’ SOMETHING ROTTEN! enough. Hanes notes that “If you are a fan of musical theatre – like so many of the subscribers here at MSMT are – the show has that ‘inside baseball’ feeling with shout outs and homages paid to musical theatre and classical theatre. It’s all done with lots of energy in a clever, off-beat way. It’s the kind of show that you become an instant fan of the minute you see it.”

Martin explains, “There are [instances of] intellectual humor and straight up slapstick and lots of asides all molded together. The key for us actors is going for broke and making everything believable.  It’s a very big sandbox that we get to play in.”

The two actors delve into their characterizations. Hanes calls Shakespeare “a heightened version of the revered figure, seen through a different lens with a very clever nod to the question of whether or not Shakespeare’s work is original. His work is well known, but there isn’t a lot of historical documentation about the man.  He began as an actor, and he was still acting three years before his death. So we’ve taken this little kernel and made him into someone for whom applause and glory are very elemental.  He cares about Me, Me, Me.  He’s a 16th century rock star.”

Martin adds, “Like Mick Jagger,” and they both laugh. Martin feels that for his character, Nick Bottom, the relationships with his brother Nigel and his wife Bea are central. “As Nigel’s older brother, Nick recognizes how brilliant Nigel is and how much he is unaware of that. Nick encourages him and tries to bring him out of his shell.  Nick knows he is not a writer [himself]; he is the game manager who puts everybody in good positions to thrive. Nick’s relationship with Bea is one of equals.  They have a shorthand between them, and she is so patient with him.  She trusts the vision he has and is his biggest fan. Having someone like that in his corner gives him an immense amount of freedom to go forth and make mistakes and come back to their relationship which is strong.”

Martin and Hanes are excited about the vision director/choreographer Marc Robin is bringing to SOMETHING ROTTEN!  Both have worked with Robin before and express huge admiration for him.  “There is an element of collaboration [in the rehearsal process],” Martin observes. “This show is unique, and you have to know when it breathes, when to trust the actors, and when to pull it back.  Marc has a very light touch, especially in the very short time frame.”

Hanes concurs, “He is very efficient; he doesn’t waste time, which I respect a great deal. He knows what he wants, but he makes sure the clothes are tailored for you.  I trust him especially in comedy because comedy is so technical. I actually have learned so much from him about how to make comedy truly work.”  Hanes is also very excited about the choreography. “Marc has worked with the greats (like Fosse), and he has created his own style.  Marc is an incredible tapper, so there is a lot of tap in this show.  I have a Fosse background, too, so we speak the same language.”

“Tyler is a savant tapper,” Martin compliments his co-star.  “Marc has worked it out so Tyler gets to shine, and so do I in my own way,” he says referring to the tap off “contest” between the two characters.

Martin and Hanes muse about what they hope the audience will take away from SOMETHING ROTTEN!, which, for many, may be an unfamiliar title. Bryant Martin hopes that, especially after the pandemic, audiences realize “how fortunate they are to see live theatre - live theatre happening eight times a week with real people doing real things! SOMETHING ROTTEN! is a celebration of theatre itself, and no matter how much fun it pokes at Shakespeare [and others] it makes you realize how brilliant his work was and how it continues to speak to the human condition.”

Hanes interjects, “Every time I hear ‘To be or not to be’ I think ‘how can someone who has been dead so long speak to the depths of the human soul that way?’”

Martin continues, “It also speaks about the very real struggle artists go through to make art.  And, again, after the last three years,  it allows us to have a cathartic moment and to celebrate what we do and what we see.”

Tyler Hanes agrees.  And he adds, “I hope they come away feeling a little lighter. Laughter is an incredible gift; it’s medicine, and this show provides so much of it. I love the sense of play this show has; for two and a half hours the audience comes along for a laughing, fun ride and leaves feeling joyful.”

 

Photos courtesy of MSMT, Jared Morneau photographer (Hanes as Shakespeare)

SOMETHING ROTTEN! runs from August 9-26, 2023, at MSMT’s Pickard Theater, 1 Bath Rd. Brunswick, ME  www.msmt.org  207-725-8769

 

 

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