Some theater-loving friends refused to buy tickets for this show because they couldn’t bear to see Shakespeare ridiculed. Never fear. The thrust of Something Rotten! is a celebration of the American musical, not a tearing down of the Bard.
The show posits that two brothers, Nick and Nigel Bottom, broke away from Shakespeare’s company during the Renaissance and came up with the idea of adding song and dance to create a new genre. Experienced theatergoers know that Shakespeare already included singing and dancing in his productions, especially in his comedies (and even in The Merchant of Venice). But we shouldn’t take this gimmick literally. The spirit of Something Rotten! is entirely good-natured.
The songs and production numbers spoof the conventions of American musicals rather than dissing anything about Shakespeare’s works. The Bard is a cocky character who basks in his own fame but, as deliciously played by Christian Borle, you can’t hate him. We root, of course, for the resourceful Nick Bottom (Brian d’Arcy James) who is endlessly inventive as he creates a new art form. At the end, the Bottoms have to flee England, so they take their creation to—where else?—America.
“A Musical,” led by Brad Oscar, is the big production number, and other good songs are “Welcome to the Renaissance,” “God, I Hate Shakespeare,” and “It’s Hard to Be the Bard.” I’m impressed that songwriting brothers based, respectively, in Hollywood and Nashville, were so able to capture the essence of Broadway. Incidentally, although this show has the same director as The Book of Mormon, Something Rotten is nowhere near as crude or foul-mouthed. It’s just a fun-filled musical.
