Something is rotten in the state of Denmark – Hamlet

Something Rotten at the Fox

This week, I saw the musical comedy, “Something Rotten!”. It showed at the Fox. A farce, this fluffy send up of all things Shakespeare, was an enjoyable romp that used the old theatrical device of a show within a show. The Bottom brothers, Nick the conniving one and Nigel the lyrical one are playwrights in Elizabethan England. We find that they are not doing very well, because all fame, adoration and money in theater is going to Shakespeare, who comes across as a Sting-like pompous ass.

Enter Nostradamus the soothsayer, who consuls Nick to try something new, a musical. This scene is one of the show’s best and includes a marvelous riff down musical theater’s memory lane. He also soothes out what will be Shakespeare’s greatest work of all time, “Omelet”. Although, at the end of the first act things maybe looking up for the Bottoms, you know that it will never last.

“Rotten!” is the next to last show in this season of the Fox’s Broadway series and I am anxiously awaiting the announcement of next year’s bill. “Hamilton” has already been disclosed and was one of my main motivators to purchase this year’s tickets, but the rest of the season is still a mystery. If this year’s lineup is any indication, there will likely be one or two other plum shows, with the rest of them being just fillers. Next month’s season ending show “Cabaret” will likely be when the next season is announced.