“Something Rotten” Review – “Something Rotten” is Something Wonderful

“Something Rotten” Review:

“Something Rotten” is Something Wonderful!

“Something Rotten” Review – This is one of the funniest, wildest and most clever Broadway shows of recent years!

Broadway musicals are so expensive – expensive to produce and expensive to attend – that many shows build in an “edge” to guarantee an audience. Some build on high wattage star power, others recreate/re-imagine a familiar Hollywood film. In the 2013 – 14 Broadway season only one of the Tony nominated best musicals featured new music!

“Something Rotten” wonderfully disregards these predictable patterns. Instead, this hilarious and crowd-pleasing production presents a riotous unique work starring Broadway actors and completely original music.

The first challenge for “Something Rotten” was simply getting people to buy a ticket.

Despite rave reviews, it struggled to build an audience. Standing in the TKTS line, I heard people say they wouldn’t see “Something Rotten” because it “was about Shakespeare.” Their assumption was that it’d be obscure, hard to follow and pedantic. Another patron asked, “Well, who’s in it?” Like “If/Then,” another wonderful show that never found a large audience, “Something Rotten” challenges audiences to enjoy a show without knowing the plot or most of the cast or music in advance. Admittedly Idina Menzel was a draw, but if you are not a Broadway fan, do you know LaChanze or Anthony Rapp? Word of mouth for “Something Rotten” became so strong that it eventually became a hit – and many people went to see it more than once!

Yes, Shakespeare is a character, but the show is so fast, funny and clever that any audience open to a laugh – or a thousand laughs – will enjoy it. Describing the plot of “Something Rotten” is a challenge. Two brothers (the never better Brian D’Arcy James and the wonderful John Cariani) are hapless playwrights who happen to be friends and competitors of William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is as a handsome, preening, sexy, charismatic rock star in a magnetic performance by Christian Borle. Desperate for a hit, the elder brother approaches a wigged out soothsayer, (hilarious Brad Oscar) hoping to find out what the next best thing in theater will be. He explains that the future of theater will be in musicals – an art form not yet invented.

From that revelation on, “Something Rotten” steps on the gas and goes for laugh after laugh. The show riotously explores the very nature of musicals – all those conventions we take for granted. It is hilarious and irreverent; fast paced and constantly tops itself. One production number was met with a prolonged standing ovation – in the middle of the first act! Like “The Book Of Mormon,” it is over-the-top-silly yet somehow sweet. And like “The Book Of Mormon,” there are characters and jokes that will offend everyone and manage not to be offensive. The ensemble is superb and amazingly versatile. While the pace flags a bit in the second act, and the two very talented lead actresses are underused, the fun mood is irresistible.

“Something Rotten” Review: This Broadway Musical Is Something Wonderful!

Will Broadway audiences embrace an original show built on an unlikely premise, written by first-time composers featuring new music and a talented cast mostly unknown outside the “Great White Way”?

Will Power – Borle As Shakespeare

It scored ten Tony Award nominations, far more than higher profile shows with known stars like Kristin Chenoweth and Kelsey Grammer), well known titles or familiar music. “Something Rotten” scores high with critics and enjoys sensational word-of-mouth from audiences that have discovered it. Here’s hoping it becomes a huge hit!