Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN! at Landestheater Linz

SOMETHING ROTTEN! opens in Linz for its German Language Premiere. The show, written by Karey Kirkpatrick, Wayne Kirkpatrick, and John O'Farrell, is presented in German for the first time. Translating such a pun-filled gag firework with Shakespeare citations and Musical Easter Eggs on every corner is quite a task. Still, Roman Hinze and Niklas Wagner brought some German Musical persuasion into the All-American Musical hommage.

Of course, we all remember Brian d'Arcy James and Brad Oscar's hilarious show-stopping performance from the 2015 Tony Awards Gala, "It's A Musical," an honestly funny homage to Broadway.

Promising promises for an entertaining evening!

To be or Not To Be, the question of questions, gaining success by writing a hit play, that's what the Bottom brothers Nick (Gernot Romic) and Nigel (Lukas Sandmann) are desperately trying to do. But there is another Bard creating hit after hit, and he goes by the name of William Shakespeare (Christian Fröhlich), Britain's Rising Star and Everybody's Darling.

With no Maecenas and in the absence of ticket-selling ideas, Nick decides to seek help from a soothsayer and finds himself in the arms of Nancy Nostradamus (Daniela Dett, Broadwayworld Award Winner 'Best Performer In A Musical'), niece of the famous one.

Trying to help Nigel gain success, Nancy tells Nigel that Musicals will be the next big thing! The Easter egg-filled Number is a show-stopper, not only because of the extraordinarily talented leading actors Daniela Dett and Gernot Romic but also because of the intelligent German translation by Roman Hinze and Niklas Wagner. Linz knows how to handle a plot like this.

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE!

Of course, Nancy Nostradamus got it almost right when she tried to spot Shakespeare's newest hit by misspelling it Omlett instead of Hamlet, and what a joy it was to see Nigel trying to write a Musical all about an Omlett.

SOMETHING ROTTEN! is a comedy show, and Musical Theatre is entertaining, but it's still an art and must be treated very seriously. Director Matthias Davids and the talented cast and crew created an honest hommage to our beloved musical theatre.

Ohs, ahs, and lots of Kim Duddy dance moves, a delightful German SOMETHING ROTTEN! Version.

Christmas is coming closer, but Linz invited us for an early funny-ish Musical Easter egg hunt. From Manderley to the Jellicle Moon, how many can you spot?

The show is now playing on selected dates at the beautiful Landestheater Linz with Gernot Romic (Nick Bottom), Lukas Sandmann (Nigel Bottom), Sane Mieloo (Bea Bottom), Valerie Luksch (Portia), Christian Fröhlich (William Shakespeare), Daniela Dett (Nancy Nostradamus), Karsten Kenzel (Brother Jeremiah), directed by Matthias Davids, with Choreography by Kim Duddy, Costume Design by Adam Nee, Stage Design by Andrew D. Edwards and Lightning Design by Michael Grundner. The "Rotten Eggs" Band is playing under the direction of Tom Bitterlich.

Fotocredit © Philip Brunnader

*Corrigendum: German translation by Roman Hinze and Niklas Wagner

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