Something Rotten!- Hopebox Theatre

Something Rotten follows brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom, two struggling playwrights living in the shadow of the wildly popular William Shakespeare. Desperate for a hit, they turn to a soothsayer, Thomas Nostradamus, who predicts the next big thing in theater: musicals. What follows is a hilarious romp full of singing, dancing, mistaken prophecies, and eggs.

Direction:

The show was directed by Ryan Bruckman. Honestly, I am never disappointed when I go to see a show directed by Bruckman. He makes sure to assemble the best production team around. For this production, this definitely was the case. He had a clear vision, and made sure to let his team know what he wanted. All parts of the show flowed together because of his clear direction. 

The show was music directed by Whitney Cahoon. The show starts off strong vocally with "Welcome to the Renaissance." "Will Power" vocals blended well together and quickly became my favorite song, vocally, of the night. When the men sang accappella "To Thine Own Self" I got the chills. 

The show was choreographed by Stephanie Bruckman, with Livvy Noonchester as assistant choreographer. The choreography for "Welcome to the Renaissance" was funny and immediately helped draw the audience into the show. "Will Power" choreography was engaging and helped sell Shakespeare as the rockstar he is pretending to be. "Make an Omelette" choreography was a crazy fun staging, that left it a standout of the night.

Performances: 

The Bottom brothers were played by Ian Fife (Nick Bottom) and Luke Swensen (Nigel Bottom). Fife helped play a lovable older brother/husband that is doing all that he can to be successful.  Swensen played his character as someone that is unsure of himself, it a strong way. Any time he started to sing I could see the audience start to smile. His vocals were well rehearsed and gorgeous to listen to. Swensen created a great character arc so when his character has his big moment at the end, it was very strong and meaningful. The two of them together were very sweet and made it believable to the audience that they were brothers. 

(PC: Katie Plott)

Portia was played by Emily Nuttall. Nuttall's character was well developed and believable. You could see her passion onstage every time she acted. Nuttall's vocals were beautiful, and didn't distract from the show. Her chemistry with Swensen was perfect and absolutely adorable. (Admittedly, I wanted to see more of the two of them, because they were SO good.)

(PC: Katie Plott)

Shakespeare was played by Austin Shipp. Shipp's vocals were strong, especially in the song "Will Power." He created a funny stereotypical British pop star, that you loved to hate. When his character pretended to be "Toby" he changed his posture and his walk, which was quite comedic. 

Brother Jeremiah was played by Chad Wilburn. Wilburn created a stern Puritan, that you definitely wouldn't want to mess with in real life. His vocals and acting in "We See the Light," was delightful and comedic. When he got to Brother Jeremiah's freakout and the end his anger was hilarious and didn't overpower the scene.

Lord Clapham/Shylock was played by Drew Saddler. I didn't realize he played both characters until the third time he switched to the other character. Each character was well defined and a contrast of each other. Lord Clapham walked tall, and had a higher voice, while Shylock was hunched and had a comedic accent. He did well to show each character's status, just by his posture. 

Design:

The set was designed by Curtis Dalton. When the audience walks in, you can't help but notice how gorgeous the set was. The set was made into three main pieces that could be flipped and put together to make different scenes. It was a clever use of the space, and was well crafted. Those pieces looked heavy, but Dalton made them easy for the actors to move.

The costume designer was Kathy Richmond. Every piece on stage was stunning and fit the time period. The costumes for the big dance numbers were showstoppers that had a certain shine to them, but still fit the period. 

The properties designer for the show was Sharla Jordan, with Tanaya Ropp as the prop assistant. I've always been impressed with Jordan's work and this show was the same. Something Rotten! is a prop heavy show, but this prop duo delivered on every single prop. Each item looked like it fit on stage and was time period. My favorite prop of the night was the omelets that the actors actually flipped on stage.

(PC: Awesome Artisan)

The lightning designer for the show was Darren Maxfield. Maxfield made sure that all actors were well lit. The color choices of the lights added to the ascetics of the show.  My favorite lighting choice of the night was whenever Shakespeare came through the middle door. (It looked SO cool and was hilarious!)

(PC: Katie Plott)

Wall of Hope Recipient:

The Hopebox Theatre's mission is, "Bringing Hope to Families Battling Cancer through the Performing Arts." Each show they pick a recipient that they donate a portion of their proceeds and all their donations to. For this show their recipient is Rachel Milne. 

Here is her story from the Hopebox Theatre's website:

In October 2024, Rachel went in for an MRI due to some small difficulties she was having with writing, texting, and playing the piano. That day, they found brain tumors, and she was admitted to the hospital, where they found multiple other tumors. While there, she had brain surgery and was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-smoking small cell lung cancer. She had 5 rounds of radiation treatment on her brain in November.  She now takes an oral medication 2x a day, and they monitor side effects and the cancer with regular visits and scans. There is no cure for her cancer, so she is learning how to live with it. Through it all, Rachel remains positive, happy, blessed, and grateful.

Support Rachel by purchasing tickets to Something Rotten! and by donating to her directly through Venmo @givehopebox.

Final Impressions:

This was my first time ever seeing a production of Something Rotten!. The show has a clear PG 13 rating on the front of the program, for a good reason. It is rated PG 13 for language and the use of words in an adult content. Parents, please take caution if you chose to take your children to this show. But, as always, please donate to the Hopebox so you can help support Rachel in her cancer journey. Something Rotten! was definitely a fun way to spend my night.

Tickets