Musical Review: “Something Rotten!”

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! A joyous noise emanates from the St. James Theatre. It’s the sound of uncontrollable laughter and applause. A guaranteed side effect of the funniest Broadway musical in years.

It’s obvious one has stumbled across something special from the opening moment of Something Rotten!. A minstrel (Michael James Scott, in glorious voice) sings and dances through “Welcome to the Renaissance”. Accompanied by a superb sounding ensemble, the performers detail the new cultural and industrial advancements of the era.

The setting might be old, but the music by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick contrasts with contemporary pop sensibilities, to comedic effect. The costume design from Gregg Barnes features elaborate splashes of color and pizzazz, and Scott Pask’s impressive set conjures signature scenic elements of past Broadway hits. The buoyant opening number ends with a thunderous wall of sound from the singers and the audience responds with rapturous applause. I was all smiles and I was completely hooked.

The story centers on Nick Bottom (Brian d’Arcy James), a struggling London playwright who constantly feels overshadowed and outdone by Shakespeare (Christian Borle). Nick and his brother Nigel (John Cariani) are in the middle of staging their new show “Richard II” when word arrives that Shakespeare has beat them to the punch. The brothers’ wealthy patron pulls funding and shuts down the play. To make matters worse, Nick’s dutiful wife Bea (Heidi Blickenstaff) reveals she is pregnant. With no income and a family on the way, Nick panics and struggles to find a new idea for a play.

Nick’s grand scheme involves paying a soothsayer to look into the future and find Shakespeare’s most successful play…and then write and produce it before the Bard gets the chance. The wonderfully zany Brad Oscar, as soothsayer Nostradamus, has been gifted with the showstopper of the season with “A Musical”. As he looks into theatre’s future, Nostradamus discovers an exciting new development: musicals.

The Kirkpatrick brothers pull out all the stops with witty wordplay and an endless parade of Broadway references. The result is a hysterical, physical performance from Mr. Oscar as he lampoons landmark musicals across Broadway history. No tuner leaves unscathed, from the high-pitched Annie interlude (complete with buckets) to pondering the pointlessness of dance breaks (“Does it further the plot?” “No …it’s entertaining!”).

Hamlet (Or “Omlette” as Nostradamus misinterprets) is the future hit that Nick chooses to put to song and finally top Shakespeare. And so the first musical is born. To detail the various ways in which he gets the famous story wrong would be to spoil the best jokes in the book. The Kirkpatrick brothers have taken a page out of Mel Brooks’ playbook and written a humorous, winking love letter to Broadway. The ending might feel a bit cliché, but the show is ultimately more about the fun journey than the destination.

Director/Choreographer Casey Nicholaw has a lot of fun incorporating familiar pastiche into the energetic choreography. He also knows how to coax winning performances from the talented cast, as all the characters instantly pop off the stage from their first lines.

Christian Borle is having a ball, evoking Tim Curry from his Rocky Horror days, with a preening and self-absorbed take on Shakespeare. Brooks Ashmanskas turns a thinly written Puritan character (Brother Jeremiah) into a meal of a part, transforming some of the book’s weaker jokes into satisfying one liners and fabulous stage exits. John Cariani displays a tender falsetto as Nigel Bottom. His neurotic physicality and sheer awkwardness around the woman he admires provide endless laughs.

Speaking of women, they are criminally underutilized in this boys club. After hearing Heidi Blickenstaff’s soaring voice on “Right Hand Man”, I wanted more of this feisty woman (her only recurring plot involves her dressing in male drag to attain work). Kate Reindeers is also sublime as Nigel’s love interest (Portia, the Puritan’s daughter of course). It’s great fun watching her explore “sinful” readings of her favorite sonnets and plays. You shouldn’t get used to seeing either lady on stage much, but you’ll welcome their limited presence.

The night really belongs to Brian d’Arcy James. The actor shows us why he is one of the best leading men of Broadway, with killer vocal chops and a grounded performance that holds up against the flashy characters surrounding him. And while he gets some fun showcases, I was really craving a big 11 o’clock “I want” number where James could truly let loose. Still, Nick Bottom is an engaging protagonist. I rooted for him during disastrous mistakes and through to eventual reconciliation.

Even if you don’t recognize the various Shakespeare quotes or the subtle Pippin reference, this musical is a joy to behold. What’s most impressive is that we’ve seen this audacious, referential humor all before, but we’ve rarely seen it done so well. From the stellar cast to the dancing eggs (did I mention there are dancing eggs?), this is shameless, outrageous musical comedy at its best.

Something Rotten!
St. James Theatre
246 West 44th Street, Manhattan
Music and Lyrics: Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick
Book: Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell
Directed and Choreographed by: Casey Nicholaw
Starring: Brian d’Arcy James, Christian Borle, John Cariani, Heidi Blickenstaff, Brad Oscar,& Kate Reindeers
Run Time: 2 Hours and 20 Minutes, including one intermission