Theater Review: 'Something Rotten' by WCSU Dept. of Theatre Arts

By Nancy Sasso Janis

All photos by Tony DeZinno

"Welcome to the Renaissance"

The talented students in the WCSU Department of Theatre Arts have produced a fabulous production of “Something Rotten!” The very funny love letter to the Broadway musical features a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell and delightful music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick. Russell Garrett both directed and choreographed the performers, and Dr. Justin P. Cowan serves as the music director.

“Something Rotten,” set in 1595, follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find success in the theatrical world as they compete with the wild popularity of their contemporary William Shakespeare. When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theater involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, they set out to write the world’s very first musical.

I have seen this show several times, so I probably noticed more details than most. How clever it was to position Shakespeare’s fans at the audience level for “Will Power” so that the crowd could join in with the cheering. Oddly enough, the staging of “The Black Death” made it even funnier. The witty "A Musical" takes on the entire book-musical form in six hysterical well-produced minutes to the delight of the audience, especially to theater lovers.

WCSU senior Ben Muckenthaler is a delight in the role of Bottom brother Nick. He appeared in both “Bat Boy: The Musical” and “Allegro” during his time on campus. Tyler Manemeit, a senior from Clinton who played Oberon in “Midsummer” at the university, has just the right amount of charm in his role as the poet Nigel Bottom.

Katie Geniuch, a senior from Massachusetts, got to play the wonderful role of Nick’s loving (and feminist) wife, Bea (“Right Hand Man”) at the matinee that I attended. She shares the role with Marianne Grossmann, a junior transfer student from Maine. The talented Heidi Blickenstaff originated this great role on Broadway.

I appreciated that the two female leads were double cast. The Puritan daughter Portia was played very well by Yazmin DeJesus, a sophomore from Hamden who was part of “Allegro,” at the matinee. She shares the role with senior Meaghan Maher, who played Johanna in WCSU’s “Sweeney Todd.”

Audrey Loverro, who played Jennie in “Allegro” takes on the big role of William Shakespeare and makes it their own. Loverro gets to play the role for which Christian Borle won a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Carlos Perez, a sophomore from Trumbull, shines in the role of the soothsayer Thomas Nostradamus, who has some static in his visions of the future.

Sophomore Rachel Rosenberg (“Marat/Sade”) plays theatrical producer Shylock, a role that she lists as an outside credit in a junior version of this show, and junior Jonah King (“Allegro”) steps out of the ensemble to play the role of Brother Jeremiah, Portia’s pious father. Michael Ramsey, a senior from Armonk, NY who appeared in “Bat Boy” and “Allegro,” plays the Bottom brothers flamboyant patron Lord Clapham. Junior Imani Smith (pictured below) does really well as the minstrel that opens the show and serves as the understudy for Shakespeare. The rest of the ensemble adds so much to the scenes in which they sing and dance, much of it in tap shoes. The students look like they are having a great time being a part of this production and it spreads out to the audience.

I had forgotten just how much tap dancing there is in this fun show and the WCSU students pulled it off wonderfully. Scenic designer Clifton Chadick gets all of the scenes right with a mixture of large and small moveable pieces and hanging that drop down as needed. I loved the playbills that drop down and then become lit up to spell out Nick’s name. Technical director Tom Swetz, a WCSU alumnus, coordinated a whole lot of moving parts, with Scott Cally in charge of the always effective lighting design and Daryl Bornstein in charge of sound.

The costumes designed by Christina Beam say “Welcome to the Renaissance,” going over the top when needed and allowing the dancers to move easily.

The offstage orchestra made the score sound its best. Dr. Cowan, who is also the show’s producer, conducts the orchestra positioned backstage as he plays keyboard 1 and is projected on a monitor above the audience. WCSU freshman Emily Lungarini covered keyboard 2.

“Something Rotten” runs approximately two and a half hours, including one 15-minute intermission. While it definitely is filled with musical theater references, there is also plenty of comedy that will make non-theater people laugh.

Don’t miss out on this hilarious mash-up of sixteenth-century Shakespeare and twenty-first-century Broadway, running through October 22 at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Western Connecticut State University.