I literally cannot remember the last time I went to a Broadway show with pretty much no idea of what to expect. But Kath and I ventured out last night to a brand new musical, still in previews, called “Something Rotten.” We knew that it was basically about the creation of the first musical, but nothing beyond that. But we liked the ads (“The New York Times says: We haven’t seen it yet!”) and tickets were relatively inexpensive for Broadway. So we figured, What the hëll.
Technically since it’s still in previews, we shouldn’t be doing reviews. But I’m not a reporter, and besides, the performance we saw could easily have been opening night. There were no screw ups (at least none that we could see), no stoppages in the performance. It was fully performance ready, and it was absolutely fantastic.
The story focuses on the adventures of the playwrighting Bottom Brothers. Their names are courtesy of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In fact, a number of the characters have Shakespearian origins, although the best is Shakespeare himself. Performed by Christian Borle (from “Smash”), Shakespeare is a rock god, a combination of Jagger and Jackson, as he swaggers through a one man arboreal show (“Shakespeare in the Park!” delights one character. His status and confidence infuriate Nick Bottom, Brian d’Arcy James (from, uh, “Smash”), who is desperate to find an idea for a new show. He seeks the help of Nostradamus’s cousin, Thomas, played by Brad Oscar (from…Jesus Christ, “Smash”, what, did they get every dámņëd Broadway actor?) who literally stops the show in performing “A Musical,” seeing the future with uncanny accuracy and urging Nick and his brother, Nigel (John Cariani, NOT from “Smash”) to craft a play where the actors stop to sing and dance every so often. And the show careens from there.
Brilliantly written by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell and directed by the wonderful Casey Nicholaw, “Something Rotten” is a delight in this day and age of musicals based on movies and books: A show where you don’t have a clue what’s going to happen next. If you are in NY, take some times to head over to the St. James theater and prepare for an evening of excellent entertainment.
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I wasn’t interested in this until I learned that John O’Farrell co-wrote it. His book The Best a Man Can Get is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.
The only Broadway show i know of that is currently running that i’d REALLY like to see is Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir of her childhood with a closeted father who killed himself shortly after she came out.
Something like ten Tony nominations, i see.