'Something Rotten' Is an Unspoiled Treat
The Bottom Brothers and a scene-stealing Shakespeare make merry at MusicalFare
If you are able to get tickets for “Something Rotten” at MusicalFare, go for it! It’s an outrageously funny treat, plus you can pretend it’s educational. You know, Shakespeare and all that.
“Something Rotten” is the once-forgotten tale of Nick and Nigel, the hapless Bottom Brothers, who are contemporaries of the greatest English playwright ever to take pen in hand. As our story opens, the Bottoms’ theater company is on the rocks thanks to competition from the public’s favorite bard, William Shakespeare. Will’s career has flourished since Nick Bottom fired him from their troupe for being “so annoying,” making his success especially irritating.
If they are going to make it, the Bottoms must find something new for their stage. The time might be ripe for it: It’s 1595 and Europe is well into the Renaissance. The search for inspiration takes them to a soothsayer, Thomas Nostradamus, who foretells that next big thing in theater will be “muuuuuu-sicals!”
Unlike Shakespeare’s florid prose, he declares, musicals will be “Something more relaxing and less taxing on the brain!” The crowds will go wild! he assures a skeptical Nick.
All of this is, of course, an excuse to have a ton of fun with 400 years of theatrical tradition. The cast knows what is required of them and they exceed the mandate spectacularly. John Kaczorowski is a hoot as Nick, with Ricky Needham as nervous Nigel, haplessly hyperventilating – or not ventilating at all – when the going gets tough.
Louis Calaiacovo, who had a blast as “Barry” in “The Prom,” tears up the scenery as the wacky Nostradamus, and Brittany Bassett-Baran gives a liberating performance as Nick’s wife, Bea. Marc Sacco literally wigs out as the repressed Puritan Brother Jeremiah, who has never met an entendre he couldn’t double.
And then there’s the man himself. Anthony Alcocer got his leather pants out of the back of his closet to rock out as William Shakespeare, the toast of the town, the Elizabethan Elvis, the guy who “puts the ‘I AM’ in iambic pentameter.”
The supporting cast is filled with local lights who often have the lead roles themselves, and director Chris Kelly makes sure not a one is wasted. Rachael Buchanan, a favorite with the Brazen-faced Varlets, is a saucy delight as the innocent Portia; Bobby Cooke blusters beautifully as Lord “They’re singing about the plague!” Clapham; and Jordan Levin makes Shylock sing.
And what an ensemble! Samantha Campbell, Gretchen Didio, Thomas Evans, David P. Eve, Rheanna Gallego, Austin Marshall and Dan Urtz all add to the experience of a singing, dancing extravaganza.
Phil Farugia handles music direction; the slapping, dashing choreography is by Kristy Cavanagh and Kari Drozd came up with the clever costuming. Like the entire musical fare crew, they know what they’re doing. It will be fun seeing what they come up with when MusicalFare moves to Shea’s 710 Main next season and can really spread its wings.
“Something Rotten,” book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, continues at MusicalFare Theatre on the Daemen University campus, 4380 Main St., Amherst, through Dec. 8.
Shows are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. (no show Nov. 28); Fridays at 7:30 pm.; Saturdays at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m. (extra show Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.) Tickets are $57; $20 for students; $30 for “under 30,” at musicalfare.com.
There is limited availability for some shows.