Review Roundup: SOMETHING ROTTEN! IN CONCERT at Theatre Royal Drury Lane

The UK premiere concert of the hit Broadway musical comedy SOMETHING ROTTEN! plays Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 August. 

Starring Jason Manford as Nick Bottom, Gary Wilmot as Nostradamus, Richard Fleeshman as Shakespeare, Marisha Wallace as Bea, Evelyn Hoskins as Portia, Cassius Hackforth as Nigel Bottom, Steve Furst as Shylock, Ashley Samuels as Troubadour, Cameron Blakely as Brother Jeremiah and Jenna Boyd as Lady Croydon. Completing the cast are Evonnee Bentley-Holder, Jordan Cunningham, Luke Field-Wright, Ru Fisher, Matthew Koon, Eddie Manning, Lisa Mattheison, Katharine Pearson and Ella Redhead.

SOMETHING ROTTEN! follows the story of Renaissance writers Nick and Nigel Bottom as they seek to outshine Shakespeare by writing the world’s first musical.

SOMETHING ROTTEN! was created by Hollywood screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run, James and the Giant Peach), John O’Farrell (Best-selling novels include The Best a Man Can Get, May Contain Nuts, The Man Who Forgot His Wife) and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick (Change the World by Eric Clapton), who together went on to adapt Mrs Doubtfire into the West End and Broadway Musical.

See what the critics are saying...

Cindy Marcolina, BroadwayWorld: The stunt cast is joyous. Nick Bottom is a role tailored for Manford. Thick Yorkshire drawl and a larger-than-life personality, what he lacks in acting skills he compensates in presence. It’s to be said, though, that most of the company could have done with more rehearsals, with the quality of the spoken deliveries suffering because of it. Wallace tears the house down as per her usual style; playful and thoughtful at once, she was born to be Bea. Cassius Hackforth completes the trio as Nick’s sensitive and poetic brother Nigel. He and Evelyn Hoskins’s Portia make an adorable star-crossed couple and Shakespeare superfans.

Chris Wiegand, The Guardian: Gary Wilmot is a hoot as Thomas Nostradamus, the ever-sensational Marisha Wallace (who appeared in Something Rotten! on Broadway) plays Nick’s quick-witted wife Bea and Steve Furst makes every line matter in his supporting role as Shylock (his character’s name is borrowed by Shakespeare, pinching freely as ever) whose speeches often give satirical bite to the comedy. There’s also Nick’s sensitive poet brother, Nigel (Cassius Hackforth), who falls for Portia (Evelyn Hoskins), daughter of Brother Jeremiah (Cameron Blakely), a puritan with carnal impulses given away by recurring double entendres.

Average Rating: 80.0%