The Festival’s return of Something Rotten! invites repeat viewing, not only for its energy but for its juicy wordplay and theatrical invention.
The show lands with a barrage of innuendo, puns and Shakespearean riffs, many of them layered so densely that laughter from one joke can easily obscure the next. Familiar passages from some of Shakespeare’s plays are cleverly folded into Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell’s book, sometimes gleefully misread for comic effect, giving the humour both speed and surprising sophistication.
In the opening number, ‘Welcome to the Renaissance’, Jeremy Carver-James, as the minstrel guide, ushers the audience into Renaissance London with easy charm, while the ensemble—sounding full and bright—propels the story forward with infectious momentum.
At the story’s centre are Nick Bottom (Mark Uhre) and Nigel Bottom (Henry Firmston), ambitious playwright brothers struggling to make their mark in a London theatre scene dominated by the swaggering celebrity of William Shakespeare, played with sleek vanity by Jeff Lillico. Their answer to artistic and commercial desperation is to invent the world’s first musical, Omelette—a premise the production exploits for an almost relentless stream of gags.
Around them spins a lively supporting gallery of oddball characters. Steve Ross’s calculating Shylock keeps financial pressure close at hand, Nehassaiu deGannes’s Lady Clapham withdraws crucial patronage, Juan Chioran’s puritanical Brother Jeremiah rails against theatrical vice, and Dan Chameroy’s Nostradamus offers the brothers a comic glimpse of what lies ahead.
Visually, the production is a feast for the eyes and ears. Costume Designer Michael Gianfrancesco’s rich Renaissance costumes glow under Bonnie Beecher’s lighting, which shifts gracefully from warm daylight to moonlit theatricality. Gianfrancesco’s sets move fluidly across the Festival stage, aided by nimble ensemble transitions, while Laura Burton’s music direction gives numbers such as ‘Welcome to the Renaissance’ and ‘A Musical’ their buoyant, crowd-pleasing force.
A major reason the production succeeds is Donna Feore’s staging and choreography, both of which keep the musical farce nimble, clear and exuberant. She understands the show’s outlandish spirit and shapes it with a confident sense of scale and rhythm.
The cast responds in kind, delivering broad comedy with precision and evident delight.
Ross is especially enjoyable as the shrewd Shylock, while Lillico makes Shakespeare both seductive and ridiculous, particularly in ‘Will Power’. Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane’s Portia begins with appealing restraint before revealing a sharper comic edge, especially opposite Firmston’s earnest Nigel, as they read poetry together. As Bea Bottom, Starr Domingue supplies brassy contrast and vocal force, making ‘Right Hand Man’ a standout of its own.
Chioran gives Brother Jeremiah a deliciously oily theatricality, mining every pause and glance for comic effect, especially when they veer into sexual innuendo. Chameroy, meanwhile, keeps Nostradamus delightfully off-kilter, and his performance in ‘A Musical’ is among the production’s high points.
The production’s comic centre, however, rests most securely with Mark Uhre’s Nick and Henry Firmston’s Nigel Bottom, whose partnership gives the evening much of its buoyancy.
Uhre and Firmston play off one another with impressive precision, listening closely, matching rhythms and grounding the silliness in complete conviction. Their rapport feels effortless, and it is this shared comic discipline that allows even the broadest jokes to land with freshness and force.
Something Rotten! emerges again as one of the Stratford season’s most unabashed crowd-pleasers from this particular audience: fast, lavish and expertly tuned to its own comic absurdity.
With Donna Feore’s buoyant staging, a game ensemble and a design team working at full tilt, the production delivers exactly what it promises: a gleefully overstuffed musical comedy that knows how to send an audience out smiling.
For theatregoers willing to surrender to its silliness, this revival proves richly rewarding, especially if you decide to see it again.
On a personal note, I didn’t fully appreciate Something Rotten! when I saw it two years ago. My mother had passed away two months prior, so my mind and heart were not fully with the production. Geoff Coulter, contributing Our Theatre Voice writer, gave it a VOICE CHOICE two years ago.
I’m glad I saw it again.
It’s another VOICE CHOICE designation for me.
And you should go see it. Again, if you have already.
Running time: approximately two hours and 30 minutes with one interval.
The production runs to October 31 at the Festival Theatre, 55 Queen Street, Stratford. For tickets: stratfordfestival.ca or call 1-800-567-1600
STRATFORD FESTIVAL presents
Something Rotten!
Book and Music by Karey Kirkpatrick
Book by John O’Farrell
Music by Wayne Kirkpatrick
Director and Choreographer: Donna Feore
Music Director: Laura Burton
Set and Costume Designer: Michael Gianfrancesco
Lighting Designer: Bonnie Beecher
Sound Designer: Haley Parcher
Performers: Jeremy Carver-James, Juan Chioran, Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane, Jeff Lillico, Mark Uhre, Henry Firmston, Nehassaiu deGannes, Steve Ross, Starr Domingue, Dan Chameroy, Eric Abel, Devon Michael Brown, Gabriel Antonacci, Jordan Goodridge, Alex Kelly, Alex Batycki, Jordan Mah, Brian Ross, Jason Sermonia, Carla Bennett, Christine Desjardins, Bonne Jordan, Amanda Lundgren, Ali Powell (at this performance), Jamie Murray
