“Something Rotten!” Comes to Burke’s Good Shepherd Players

Burke, VA (February 2026) – Good Shepherd Players will perform the Tony Award-winning musical Something Rotten! each Friday-Sunday from February 27th through March 8th.

Set in Elizabethan England, Something Rotten! tells the story of Nick and Nigel Bottom, two playwright brothers who desperately try to outdo their more successful peer, William Shakespeare. The brothers struggle, which leads to Nick seeking the help of soothsayer Thomas Nostradamus. The soothsayer predicts that the next big thing in the theater will be… a musical, where dialogue stops and actors sing instead. Despite how ridiculous this new concept sounds, Nick quickly embraces the idea and begins work on a musical to beat his competition.

Something Rotten! originally opened on Broadway in April 2015 at the St. James Theatre. It earned ten Tony nominations, winning one for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Christian Borle as Shakespeare). The book was written by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, with music and lyrics by brothers Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick.

Good Shepherd Players is known for putting on outstanding performances, including their semi-staged production of 1776 in 2025, which earned three BroadwayWorld Washington, DC nominations for a non-professional musical production. Other recent performances include Lucky Stiff and Into The Woods from 2024 and Titanic and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in 2023.

Director Nancy Lavallee had been interested in directing Something Rotten! for some time now. “We can all use a laugh these days and the script is so funny! It pays homage to many great musical theatre productions as well as Shakespeare’s plays. The songs are clever, too, and the show keeps the audience on their toes the whole time.”

The show stars a newcomer to Good Shepherd Players’ mainstage performances, with Andy Shaw playing the lead role of Nick Bottom. Shaw does an excellent job of capturing Nick’s emotions and making the audience feel all the ups and downs that he experiences. Other cast members include Jared Diallo (Minstrel), Peter Marsh (Brother Jeremiah), Megan Fisher (Portia), Craig Goeringer (Nigel Bottom), Margaret McGarry (Lady Clapham), Jamey Pellegrini (Shylock), Maura Lacy (Bea), Kevin Donlan (Shakespeare), and Chris Dockins (Nostradamus).

If you like puns and musical theatre comedy, then you will love Something Rotten! It’s filled with numerous Shakespearean and musical references and jokes that keep the audience laughing and listening for the next pun. The zany situations Nick Bottom and his family get into are just as delightful as the charming songs the cast sings.

Something Rotten! runs from Friday, February 27th through Sunday March 8th with 7:30 PM shows on Fridays and Saturdays and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm. Tickets are on sale now at: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/gsmusic/something-rotten

Photos by Barbara Skog

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