Musical Monday: Something Rotten!

(Originally posted on Minnesota Theater Love)

I'm taking the dive. I had friends of mine who went out to New York City a few weeks ago and saw this show. I purchased the cast recording soon after I heard that, and just before I was going to hang out with them. I started listening to it in the car and was laughing throughout, and honestly - was distracted during lunch because I wanted to get back and listen to more.

If you don't know yet - Something Rotten! (this smash hit musical on Broadway) tells the story of Nick and Nigel Bottom. They are playwrights in the 1595 who are tired of competing with Shakespeare. Nick goes to a fortune teller to see what Shakespeare's biggest hit is going to be, and what the future of theatre holds. The biggest news of what the theatre holds is that there is this thing called "Musicals" that will play well. That is the start of one of the many showstoppers (literal showstopper from what my friends stated) on this recording. The song is "A Musical" and it is an incredible number with so many musical allusions your head may spin. If you didn't see it on the Tony Awards, you may be able to find it on youtube.

Needless to say, every song is a winner. Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick wrote the music and lyrics, while Karey and John O'Farrell wrote the book. Brian d'Arcy James plays Nick Bottom, while John Cariani plays his brother Nigel. Nick's wife is the amazing Heidi Blickenstaff, while the fortune teller is the one and only Brad Oscar. To play Shakespeare? The one and only Christian Borle. His first number is a song called "Will Power" that takes actual lines of Shakespeare and puts them to music creating "Shakespeare, the ROCK STAR!"

I won't say more about the play as I don't want to give away much. All I will say is you need to go to the Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight website and order it (or your local music store.) It is a great cast recording that you will enjoy. And if you have a minute or two, you really should look up the publicity campaign for this show. I bring this up because between the Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Drama Desk and Tony Awards - it was nominated for almost 29 awards, and won two. Most shows would not be able to handle this, but the publicity team turned this into a HUGE win. Amazing!