Something Rotten is the kind of show that you cannot take seriously. You must let it roll, laugh lots, cringe occasionally, and then just enjoy. There is nothing smelly at all about this jiving jumping musical now on view at Theatre Cedar Rapids. It is not the first or the only musical take off on the Bard, but it does rock. Your best introduction to seeing this show is a neat You Tube cut of “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” from Kiss Me Kate. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJIpp2Jj8AQ) You can then ease into this show's plot that follows the creation of the greatest play of all time—Omelette. Just remember you can't make anything happen unless you break a few eggs.
Nick Bottom, Shakespeare’s proverbial jackass, has a brother
who wants to be a poet and needs a big hit to bring success against the
competition from that cool dude, the bard himself. Bottom consults a soothsayer
and discovers that all he needs to do is cut the tragedy out of Romeo and
Juliet and add music and dancing. Then you get a good Puritan villain and you
are all set.
While keeping an Elizabethan flavor, Wayne and Karey
Kirkpatrick manage to give homage to the sound or name of almost every musical
ever written. There are snippets of theme music, the mention of plots, the
names of characters, the titles of blockbusters, and even signature dance
motifs from tap dancing to the traditional chorus line from surprise! surprise! Chorus Line.
The lighting is flashy, the costumes including a bunch of
false beards and breakaways, are wildly colorful, and the scenery wagons roll
on and off efficiently propelled by costumed stage personnel. Not a second is
wasted. The bouncy score was too loud for my tastes, but it had the younger set
rising up and shouting. Technically, the production was led by magnificent
and energetic choreography. Megan Helmers is credited, but I could find nothing
in the program about her background. It is obviously superlative and the
hoofing in several styles shows that the Cedar Rapids area has a large well of dance talent. The only thing missing was a “dream ballet.”
Kudos also goes to director Matt Hagmeier Curtis who clearly knows how to put a large cast, with no glaring weak spots, through its paces. Calvin Bowman, decked out in leather pants and long sideburns is cool to the core and like his namesake a master of disguise. Brandon Burkhardt, who I loved as the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz, puts in another stellar performance as Nick Bottom. Katelyn Halverson looks the part of Portia all the way, but I felt was a victim of the amplification system. Her voice seemed to come off as unnecessarily shrill through the speakers. One can only wish that modern actors could carry the day better without artificial amping up of their voices in order to survive above the electronics of the score.
The fast-talking character work of Greg Smith as Nostradamus
and Aaron Pozdol as Shylock were also victimized somewhat by the amplification. They talked fast and loud, but the articulation didn't seem crisp enough--though I am first to admit that my hearing is not
what it used to be.
Then there is the ending. The Omellette
number is hard to top for pzazz of the first order and that
leaves the Finale a tad soft. My suggestion for a final visual that might put a better exclamation
point on the show would be a new drop or projection of the "new world" New York harbor with the Statue of Liberty standing tall. The core idea of the show is the American invention of the musical
as a popular genre and where was that done? In New York on Broadway, of course. So, let's cross fade out of Mr. Visscher's view of the Thames in 17th century London to the real new world. This is just something for Matt to think about if he has the
chance to do this show again.
Congrats to the entire company. It was a blast. Jim De Young 2/20/24
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