Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN at Music Theatre Wichita At Century II Concert Hall

Something Rotten! is a musical’s musical! There’s something here for everyone here - pure entertainment for folks who just want to be entertained, and, for the seasoned musical theatre nerd, infinite musical theatre references, from obvious to obscure, that make the show even that much more fun. If you’re a Shakespeare fan, this is a thouroughly modern look into what the Renaissance fans really thought about the Bard!

Something Rotten! is a musical comedy with a book by John O'Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick, with music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick. Something Rotten! opened on Broadway on April 22, 2015, and was nominated for ten Tony Awards. The musical began as a workshop in 2015 with Director Casey Nicholaw. The show is set in 1595 England, where we drop in on a rehearsal of a theatre troupe run by Nick and Nigel Bottom, brothers who are looking for just one big hit show, as they struggle to compete with the incredibly successful William Shakespeare. I love the Bottom reference, linking the brother’s acting troupe with the Rude Mechanicals, setting the whole expectation of their acting and writing ability. In Something Rotten!, Shakespeare leaves the Bottom Brothers troupe and starts his own acting troupe, giving him great success and even greater fame.  As the show progressed, the numerous Shakespeare references kept mounting, and I couldn’t help falling in love with this quick-witted show.

The brilliant writing combined with Director/Choreographer Eric Sciotto’s attention to detail and fast paced action keep you locked in for the duration. Sciotto played Shakespeare in the Broadway production of Something Rotten!, so his familiarity with the show, as well as his time spent working with Casey Nicholaw, is a real bonus. Sciotto’s unique modern, physical, muscular style stands out and serves him well, as is evidenced by the way the dancers really attack and move through his choreography. This style is apparent in the acting as well, as you can see the actors take on the physical aspects of their character, making movement as important as words.  So much information is conveyed before the actors even open their mouths.

Music Direction from Thomas W. Douglas is impeccable, as the music moves a mile a minute, and I was able to understand every word, and not a note was missed. I loved the forced perspective set, designed by Jordan Slusher. I had a hard time discerning the drops from the solid parts of the set, so deft was the illusion. There were flickering candles in the windows during the night time scenes, and an unspeakably beautiful blue and gold moonlit drop that tuns into a country church with the flip of a switch. In all, there are seventeen hand painted drops used in the show. Lighting Designer Helena Kuukka has a wealth of experience lighting opera and ballet, and it shows. Her absolutely stunning design wowed me with her complex use of rich color, and her ability to create complex atmospheres while sufficiently illuminating the actors and the set. Since many of the costumes came from both Broadway and National Tour, Costume Coordinator Shannon Smith-Regnier had to pull together all the looks and make sure everyone got fitted properly. Shannon, a WSU Grad, currently teaches Costume Design at Avila University.

As the show opens, we’re welcomed to the Renaissance by a Minstrel, played by Jalen Kirkman. This is Jalen’s first time on the MTW stage, and has numerous regional credits. Jalen’s powerful voice helps set the stage for the rest of the show. The music is a delightful combination of classic broadway with a healthy infusion of modern rock, and the choreography follows suit. Over the course of the show we bounce around from classic MT, tap, and hip-hop styles!

Local actor David Raehpour is extremely funny and versatile here in three roles: Shylock, Lord Clapham, and Master of the Justice. All three have wildly distinctive voices and mannerisms, and prove to be a perfect foil for Nick Bottom, a regular guy who just wants a hit show.  Nick is played by Eric Coles, who was in the first National Tour of Something Rotten! Nick’s smooth tenor voice and natural acting style make him the perfect straight man for all the crazy characters he encounters on his journey to greatness. In I Hate Shakespeare, we get to meet all the wonderful characters in Nick’s Troupe, who accompany us on this whacky journey. Shout out to the man who was assigned to play all the women’s roles - he was a hoot!

Bea, Nick’s pert, upbeat wife, is played by Chelsea Lynn Alfredo, who you might remember from the 2018 Season where she played Ellie in Disney’s Freaky Friday. Bea wants the family and white picket fence deal, but she’s hardly a trad wife. In her patter-y song Right Hand Man, with her bright voice and crisp diction, Bea lets Nick know she’s prepared to get a job to support the family while Nick writes his big hit show. Alfredo’s Bea is self assured, and her comedic turns passing for a man as she moves up the career ladder are hilarious!

In order to mine new material for his play, Nick decides to visit a seer to learn about the future of theatre. After a stroll down Soothsayer Alley, he settles on one Thomas Nostradamus, exquisitely played by John Scherer. A veteran of Broadway and regional theatre, John is an MTW favorite; we last saw him here in as the Man In Chair in Drowsy Chaperone, where he came in as a last minute replacement for our beloved Wayne Bryan.  John’s excellent comedic timing, combined with fidgety fingers and wide eyed blinking and squinting accompany his visions of the future of the theatre as he leads us through A Musical, describing the future of theatre, and the most HILARIOUS, UPROARIOUS, EPIC dance number explaining the American Musical ensues. Nostradamus explains his vision of the musical going through quick cuts of every musical in modern history. This number was wild and colorful, replete with a stunning backdrop of The Globe Theatre, backlit by multicolor lights. The Chorus Line kick line ending STOPPED THE SHOW with at least 30 seconds of wild applause from he audience. The cast then launched into another ending with a nod to Bob Fosse’s Pippin. The number was so exceedingly funny I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. It was the best 15 minutes of theatre I’ve ever seen on the Concert Hall stage.

Nigel Bottom, Nick’s brother, is a poet and dreamer, and the real artist of the troupe. Shakespeare  admits he often stole lines from Nigel, and this idea supports the theory set forth by the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, who posit that there is evidence that the works of Shakespeare were written by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Nigel is played beautifully by Merrick Theobald Jr., a rising senior musical theatre major at the University of Oklahoma. Merrick’s rich, soaring voice paints Nigel as a hopeless romantic, and even more so, when he meets a Puritan girl named Portia, played by played Regine Sophia. A graduate of Penn State, this is Regine’s third season here at MTW. Portia is bright, bubbly, and enthusiastic, which plays well off Merrick’s innocence. The star-crossed lovers fall instantly for each other, professing their affections in a duet, I Love The Way, sung beautifully by Regine, her beautiful soprano swirling and mingling with Merrick’s sweet tenor. Portia’s father is Brother Jeremiah, a Puritan Preacher well played with larger than life energy by Steve Hitchcock, MTW veteran and Associate Director. endless fodder for this crazy triangle of characters, and the payoffs are huge.

Nigel gets an invite to “Shakespeare in the Park” which is reimagined as a rock concert, only it’s Shakespeare holding court, and is portrayed as an 16th Century Rockstar, played to the hilt by Sam Harvey, who has several National Tours and many Regional Theatre appearances to his credit. Harvey’s Shakespeare evokes a modern rockstar as he straddles a cross between Elvis and Jim Morrison, playing up his HUGE Codpiece over his black leather shirt and pants, and spikey collar in place of the ruffle. Sciotto’s physical choreography really comes to the fore here, with Harvey slithering all over the stage like a snake, with a little nod to Tim Curry ala Frank-N-Furter in Rocky Horror. Harvey slays here with his strong tenor, wailing out sustained long, high notes with abandon.

All the musical numbers in Something Rotten are pure gold. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the 2nd act number It’s Eggs, which is chock FULL OF EASTER EGGS! I don’t want to get all Lacamoire/Swift on you, but in this number, Nostradamus gives Nick faulty information about Hamlet, bits and pieces of modern musicals that will populate what Nostradamus mistakenly interprets as Omelette. Some of the most hard core musical nerds will love this number because it has so many MT references, including a gem from the mouth of John Travolta at a certain awards show. This travesty irritates Nigel, which causes him to leave Nick’s troupe and drives him straight into the arms of Portia.

We see the lovers Nigel and Portia bathed in an incredibly gorgeous blue and gold moonlit scene where the couple experiences another “religious” poetic experience, which transitions into We See The Light. Stained glass takes the place of the golden moon, with colorful lighting and chasers accompany a revival style number where the couple imagines the Puritans and the Preacher accept Portia and Nigel’s relationship. The Puritans have an incredible costume transformation from black costumes into black with interspersed pastel accents on their garments. Unfortunately this is a complete fantasy, as the Preacher banishes Portia to Scotland to live out her life in a tower.

Nigel goes back to his brother Nick to show as the troupe rehearses Omelette and tries to change Nick’s mind. Nigel’s written a beautiful new script, but Nick rejects it, and Shakespeare steals it.  We see the opening number of Eggs!, Make an Omelette, which reminded me of Springtime for Hitler from The Producers; so outrageous that I sat there awestruck. Kudos to Sciotto, this number was the sublime bordering on ridiculous. I have never seen a crazier number with the incredible amount of bits going on in it. It was a mash up of every popular musical ever produced; the Phantom mask on Nostradamus; Nuns, a Cowboy Hat nod to Oklahoma; Fiddler; dancing eggs;  Dreamgirls’ And I am telling you; and then Shakespeare, disguised as Sir Toby Belch; interrupts the number by saying the wrong lines and exposing Nick’s whole sordid plan. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the Queen’s costume, it was unexpected and quite striking.

To wrap things up, Nick’s group ends up in court, where he admits his mistake and is sentenced to beheading when Bea jumps in disguised as a lawyer and makes a plea, quoting the very famous monologue Quality of Mercy to the Master of Justice (David Raehpour) for leniency. In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Portia is the character disguised as a male lawyer and delivers the speech. The Master agrees and sends them all, including Portia, to exile in America, where they bring the musical to the new world. In the history of theatre, the musical is a quintessential  American form. The Finale shows our clever troupe brilliantly quoting even more musical comedy literature on an American stage, where they end up happily ever after!

There were so many incredible things in this show that I left out of this review. Let us suffice it to say that this such an entertaining show. Congratulations MTWichita, on an excellent evening of theatre!

What’s next for Music Theatre Wichita? A Grand Night For Singing, which runs September 3 to September 7 at the Century II Concert Hall.  For ticket info visit mtwichita.org

There will also be a Fund Raiser on 9/11 with Kelly O’Hara at Museum Night Among the Stars at the Wichita Art Museum at 1400 W. Museum Blvd. at 6pm. For ticket info visit mtwichita.org