'Something Rotten!' is actually something quite delightful
The time is 1595 in Renaissance London, where everyone is excited about the newest technology and trending pop culture.
The most adored in the Tudor entertainment world is that sexy, young writer, Will Shakespeare, whose fan base is growing along with his rock star status. Another, less successful scribe, Nick Bottom — a playwright partnered with brother Nigel — finds Will unbearable. The soothsayer Nostradamus suggests a way the Bottom brothers can rise to the top with a brand-new stage invention — the musical!
The set up for “Something Rotten!” leads to one of the most ridiculous, delightful shows on tour this season with PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series, running Jan. 31 to Feb. 5.
“The show is a love letter to musical theater,” says Adam Pascal, who will continue the role of Shakespeare, which he played on Broadway toward the end of its run. “It's clear that the writers love theater and love musical theater. And this is their way, in a farcical, comedic way, of expressing their appreciation for it.”
Other musicals are referenced throughout the madness with musical phrases and twisted lyrics. The song “A Musical” draws from as many as 10 others, from Bob Fosse jazz hands to a full-size, tap-dancing chorus line and “Hard Knock Life” wash buckets. In “Something Rotten/Make an Omelette,” another 11 shows are put through the wringer with mentions from “Cabaret,” “My Fair Lady” and “Dreamgirls,” among others.
Musical theater fans will get a kick out of revisiting all those tidbits. But that history is not necessary to enjoy the show.
“I've heard things from people in the audience who are not particularly rabid musical theater fans, and they love it just as much,” Pascal says. “And kids who come who don't know anything about the references to other musicals or any of that stuff, they love it. And that's really a true test of the quality of the show. It's not just trying to appeal to a niche audience of people who are musical theater aficionados.”
The musical references are just a small part of “Something Rotten!,” he says. “It's a show about love and friendship and being the underdog.”
Shakespeare's writing is picked through as well. Scholars and students of the Bard will note the quotes, characters and plot lines alluded to with satire and playfulness. But Pascal doubts the show will necessarily send anyone to seek out Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.
“To be completely frank, I have never been someone who has taken to the language of Shakespeare,” he says, laughing. “I have always found it very difficult to understand and follow. … It requires a really special teacher to help you get it. And the people who get it clearly adore it.”
And then there are those more likely to embrace and understand the song, “God, I Hate Shakespeare.”
Pascal is not the only actor touring straight from the Broadway production, which closed on Jan. 1. The actors playing the Bottom brothers — Rob McClure and Josh Grisetti — are also along for the ride. The tour previewed in Schenectady, N.Y., then opened in Boston. Pittsburgh is the second stop on the tour.
“I'm lucky to move into a role that was already created by the writers and (choreographer) Casey Nicholaw and Christian Borle,” Pascal says. (Fox Chapel native Borle won a 2015 Tony Award for his role.)
“I've got a wonderful skeleton on which to build my character,” he says. “It's already there. It just needs my own sense of humor and my own personality.”
And how is it playing a rock star?
“The part is so glorious and silly and grandiose,” he says with a laugh. “And I get to express those parts of being a rock star that I always thought — if I ever became one — I would never act like.”
Sally Quinn is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
