Fortune teller Nostradamus (Ryan Crout) tries to help Nick Bottom (Woodrow Jackson Helms) in Slow Burn Theatre Company's production of "Something Rotten." (Photo by Larry Marano/courtesy of Slow Burn Theatre)
We desperately need “Something Rotten” now.
Indeed, it is an escapist musical whose hilarity, celebration, and send up of musical theater and Shakespeare will whisk you away from our troubled world for about two-and-a-half hours, including an intermission.
As it always does, Slow Burn Theatre Company is wowing audiences with its dynamic, funny, and believable professional production of “Something Rotten.”
The minstrel (Jerel T. Brown) welcomes the audience to the Renaissance. (Photo by Larry Marano/courtesy of Slow Burn Theatre)
The production runs through Sunday, April 13 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ 584-seat Amaturo Theater.
Under Slow Burn Artistic Director Patrick Fitzwater’s skilled direction, a large cast of gifted triple threat performers, some of whom you may recognize, believably turn the Amaturo Theater stage into the Renaissance. It was a period of European history, roughly from the 14th to 17th centuries, marked by a "rebirth" of interest in classical art, literature, and learning, following the Middle Ages. Advancements in art, science, and exploration also took place.
In addition to performers, designers do their part to bring the show’s world to vivid life. Scenic designer S. Benjamin Farrar, lighting designer Eric Norbury, costume designer Gregg Barnes, and sound designer Dan Donato contribute to the production’s success. Norbury paints with light, using colors wisely, Farrar’s impressive set believably takes us to the Renaissance, and Barnes’ period costumes are colorful and character appropriate.
Brothers Nigel Bottom (Tyler Manemeit) and Nick Bottom (Woodrow Jackson Helms) work toward a goal in "Something Rotten."
Certainly, if you are a musical theater fan, you will be in Nirvana if you experience “Something Rotten.” You barely finish nodding and laughing after one musical theater reference when another one begins. More follow.
Of course, if you like or love Shakespeare, “Something Rotten” will be a treat for you as well. And if you do not like musical theater or Shakespeare? Go anyway. “Something Rotten” is a love letter to culture, which we especially need during a time when the powers that be are trying to silence creatives and limit our access to art and culture.
“Something Rotten” sends up musical theater and Shakespeare even as it celebrates them. The show’s setting is 1595. The Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, are struggling to succeed in the theatrical world. Their nemesis? Shakespeare.
Neither of the Bottom brothers will receive the backing of one Lord Clapham (Michael Materdomini) if they do not think up a new idea for a play. Fortunately, fortune teller Nostradamus (Ryan Crout) comes to the brothers’ rescue. Specifically, he looks into the future and predicts that something called a “musical” will be the next live theatrical phenomenon. Crout, who is also the production’s musical director, portrays Nostradamus with the right mix of eccentricity and an everyman quality that reinforces the character’s humor. With unruly gray hair and a gray beard, Crout looks unrecognizable.
Shylock (Matthew W. Korinko) and Nick Bottom (Woodrow Jackson Helms) share a moment in "Something Rotten" at Slow Burn Theatre at the Broward Center. (Photo by Larry Marano/courtesy of Slow Burn Theatre)
As a live theater patron, possessing knowledge that characters in a play you are watching lack is always a thrill. In this case, Nick Bottom (Woodrow Jackson Helms) says it is hard to believe that people would pay big bucks to experience musicals. Well, from what we know about exorbitantly-priced tickets to shows such as “Hamilton,” we will surely laugh. We also may quietly brag to ourselves that we know, unlike the characters, that musicals such as “Chicago,” “The Music Man,” “Annie” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats” "Rent" and “A Chorus Line” have become rousing successes. These are just some of the musicals mentioned in “Something Rotten.”
Speaking of song, “Something Rotten” fuses classic Broadway show tunes with rock and pop influences. Several songs are lively and upbeat, but the melodies are not particularly memorable. Chances are, you will not hum them after the show or run to buy a cast recording.
Live musicians accompany the performers, who also sing and dance with verve, particularly during tap dancing sequences (the choreographer is Nicolette Quintero).
Karey Kirkpatrick’s and John O’Farrell’s humorous and engaging book, as well as Wayne Kirkpatrick’s and Karey Kirkpatrick’s smart and funny lyrics, will impress.
“I am the Will with the skill to thrill you with my quill,” Shakespeare remarks. The bard comes to vivid life in “Something Rotten,” which portrays him as a conceited, yet likable and popular rock star of the Elizabethan theater scene.
The cast of Slow Burn Theatre Company's production of "Something Rotten." (Photo by Larry Marano/courtesy of Slow Burn Theatre)
As the Bard, in an impressive, multi-faceted performance, Ralph Meitzler conveys flashiness, vanity, flamboyance, and a sexy confidence. You cannot look away from him.
Your experience with “Something Rotten” may be richer if you are familiar with iambic pentameter. Shakespeare frequently used this style. It is a poetic meter with 10 syllables per line, alternating between unstressed and stressed. Iambic pentameter creates a rhythmic, musical quality.
In “Something Rotten,” the Bottom brothers try to write a play that will beat Shakespeare. However, through their process, Nick and Nigel struggle with iambic pentameter’s constraints and the expectations of Shakespeare’s style. In fact, iambic pentameter is a source of humor in the musical. Among other things, it has fun with the perceived rigidity and formality of Shakespeare’s language. The song “Hard to be the Bard” includes lines such as “Your play’s gotta be in iambic pentameter.”
By the way, Nick Bottom is a weaver in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In that comedy, his head changes into that of a donkey.
Helms shines as the playwright also named Nick Bottom in Slow Burn’s production of “Something Rotten.” The performer imbues him with a determined and competitive air, and he easily gets frustrated. However, as Helms portrays him, we admire his resilience even as Shakespeare aggravates him. And Helms’ Nick is a positive influence on his younger brother, Nigel (Tyler Manemeit).
Manemeit lends Nigel an endearing eagerness and naivete that contrasts him from his seemingly more worldly older brother.
In the musical, Nigel falls in love with Portia (a quirky Kristi Rose Mills). She, like Nigel, loves poetry and theater. Of course, conflict arises because Portia’s father, Brother Jeremiah (a bitter and severe Michael Dean Morgan) and his followers are Puritans. They were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to “purify” the Church of England of what they considered Roman Catholic practices. Generally, they prioritized spiritual matters over artistic expression.
Manemeit and Mills share a touching chemistry. We believe that they would make a close couple.
The musical’s creators probably named Portia after the heroine in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” But Portia is not the only character in the musical named after someone in Shakespeare’s play. In addition, Shylock (a witty and enthusiastic Matthew W. Korinko) is a theater lover and patron. By contrast, in “The Merchant of Venice,” Shylock is a Jewish moneylender and the main antagonist.
For a show that takes place so long ago, “Something Rotten” boasts at least one strong female character. That person is Bea, Nick’s wife, played here by a spirited Leah Sessa. She knows that, during the musical’s setting, it is illegal to put women on stage and women could not work. But she does not let that stop her. In fact, she wears a disguise (be prepared for surprises).
While “Something Rotten” is mostly an escapist piece, it leaves us with valuable advice. Indeed, the song “To Thine Own Self,” calls to mind the quote, “To thine own self be true,” from Act 1, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
IF YOU GO
- WHAT: Slow Burn Theatre Company’s production of “Something Rotten.”
- WHERE: Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Amaturo Theater, 201 S.W. 5th Ave. in Ft. Lauderdale.
- WHEN: Performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, and 1 p.m. Saturday.
- TICKETS: $72-$94. Go to https://www.slowburntheatre.org or call (954) 462-0222.
