BWW Preview: SOMETHING ROTTEN! a Premier Broadway Show Coming to Pittsburgh

The Renaissance is vibrant, new, and alive in Something Rotten!, a fantastic and "very new" musical redolent of the great works of theatre past. The show will have you laughing, crying, and quite possibly giving a standing ovation - in the middle of an act.

Something Rotten! debuted on Broadway in April 2015 and tells the story of underdog writing brothers, Nick and Nigel Bottom, who try to out-wit and out-rhyme the rock star playwright of the day, The Bard, William Shakespeare. What better way to do this than to create the world's first musical?

Clever comedy and musical references splatter the musical like the tomato on its logo, but this is no show for groundlings to hurl tomatoes or eggs at; Something Rotten! is the premier Broadway show to see in Pittsburgh this season.

For well-versed theatre lovers, the humor and allusions will keep your theatrical brains engaged while those with less theatrical experience will still be able to enjoy the risible work from start to finish.

On the outside, a show about 1595 Elizabethan England may seem outlandish or even imprudent, but Karey Kirkpatrick (book/music/lyrics), John O'Farrell (book), and Wayne Kirkpatrick (music/lyrics) conceived and wrote a script and score that capture the era masterfully.

Rob McClure (Nick), Josh Grisetti (Nigel), and Adam Pascal (Shakespeare) will reprise their respective roles in the upcoming tour beginning in January 2017 and stopping in Pittsburgh January 31 thru February 5.

This experienced cast's ground shaking dance routines and larger than life numbers will easily fill any theatre with the power and tenacity that many did not think existed in the sixteenth century. Showstopper follows showstopper, complete with angelic chords and synchronized tapping delights that accompany a spectacle of a piece.

And regardless of whether you already love or hate Shakespeare, this show will certainly change how you think about the author of plays you read in high school, similar (but different) to the way Hamilton will change how you think about the first Secretary of the Treasury.

It would not be surprising if the national tour of Something Rotten!, presented by PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh, sold out on consecutive nights because in so many ways, the show is quintessential and all-encompassing Broadway. Everything that you love and hate about the stage is perfectly wrapped up into a two-and-a-half hour package. You will not want to miss the show that earned Pittsburgh native Christian Borle (Shakespeare) his second Tony Award last year.

With that, Exeunt BWW Preview.

To see or not to see score: 8/9; Strongly Recommended Show

Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich