Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center returns to live programming with a scaled-down but sensational staging of the 2015 Best Musical Tony nominee Something Rotten!

The year is 1595 and William Shakespeare (Trevor March) reigns almost as supreme as her majesty Queen Elizabeth while aspiring playwright brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom (Philip McBride and Jared Price) long for even a smidgen of Will’s success.

No wonder then that when older bro Nick happens upon Nostradamus (Andrew Metzger) one dark and gloomy night (not the Nostradamus but his somewhat less psychically gifted nephew) and asks to know what The Next Theatrical Big Thing will be, he’s more than willing to take the soothsayer’s advice, no matter how outlandish it might seem.

And what you may ask does Nostradamus predict will soon be the rage? Here’s a hint. It’s got “song and dance, and sweet romance, and happy endings happening by happenstance, bright lights, stage fights, and a dazzling chorus.”

That’s right, it’s a musical, and before long Nick is taking Nostradamus’s advice and writing “Omelette” (the would-be oracle got everything right but the first syllable) much to the consternation of younger brother Nigel, who’d put art over commerce any day.

Meanwhile, Nick’s feminist wife Bea (Lauren Josephs) has gone out in male attire to find a job (women being forbidden by law from doing men’s work) and Nigel has fallen head over heels for Portia (Shelby Barry), daughter of puritan Brother Jeremiah (Steven Didrick), who’d rather see his offspring burn in hell than have her marry a heathen, a place she’s headed in any case if she and Nigel tie the knot.

Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell’s Tony-nominated book is filled with delightfully deliberate anachronisms and lyricists Wayne Kirkpatrick and younger brother Karey have just as much fun rhyming “sciences” and “appliances” (and “pewter” and “Tudor”) while referencing just about every Broadway show you could possibly name.

As for the tunes the Tony-nominated brothers Kirkpatrick have written, the Original Cast Recording issues a “warning” that they are “all show tunes,” which means you can expect to be humming along to hooks that would do Show Tune King Jerry Herman proud.

Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center favorites Keenan Hooks (director/co-choreographer) and Augusto Guardado (co-choreographer) merge creative forces to impressive effect, and never more so than in a pair of song-and-dance showstoppers that pay delicious tribute to Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins and more, resulting what might well be the two longest and loudest mid-show ovations in SVCAC history, the first for “A Musical!”, a musical theater reference-packed showstopper and “Make An Omelette,” which pays tribute to so many Broadway hits old and new, you could probably see it half a dozen times and still find yourself noticing something new.

McBride anchors the production quite engagingly indeed as perennial runner-up Nick, Price proves a bona fide charmer as the easily overshadowed Nigel, Josephs is a feisty delight as budding feminist Bea, and Barry lights up the stage as a young woman just bursting to break out of her conservative shell, with Didrick, Hall, and Trae Adair providing solid support as (respectively) a closet flamer, a kvetching moneylender, and a tunefully crooning Minstrel.

Best of all are the supporting star turns delivered by March, who makes sexy rock star Will Shakespeare the swoon-worthy love child of David Bowie and Elvis,

and Metzger, dazzlingly unhinged as the wackiest character to keep Simi Valley audiences in stitches since his Uncle Fester a half-dozen years back.

Ensemble members Anna Cardino, dance captain Krystal Jasmin Combs, Dawn Michelle, Cisco DeLuca, Kathryn Dobyns, Amber Florin, Sam Gianfala, Justin James, Andrew Landecker, Olivia Leyva, Caitlyn Rose Massey, Tariq Mieres, Niko Montelibano, Aryn Nemiroff, Maddie Ragsdale, Kyle Sanderson, Luke Smith, Reyn Smith, Whitney Kathleen Vigil, and Rachel Yoffe not only sing and dance with the best of them, they bring to life cameo after cameo, from members of Shakespeare’s troupe, to prudish puritans, to dozens of iconic Broadway characters seen through a Renaissance lens.

Music director Mazie Rudolph elicits topnotch vocals from the entire cast, who perform to prerecorded tracks (a smart choice), expertly amped and mixed by sound designer Nick Caisse.

Scenic designer Seth Kamenow keeps things effectively simple, the better to showcase Ariella Fiore’s splendiferous array of Elizabethan fashions, gorgeously lit by Antonio Ventura, with additional design kudos shared by Betsy Paull-Rick (props) and Luis Ramirez (wigs).

Something Rotten is executive produced by Fred Helsel. McBride is associate producer. Megan Tisler is production stage manager. Price is assistant musical director and Tori Cusack is assistant choreographer.

It’s been nearly two-and-a-half years since Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center welcomed Christmas of 2019 with with Elf The Musical, and you know what happened soon after that.

What a joy then to welcome SVCAC back with a production as fabulous as Something Rotten!, a musical theater buff’s dream come true … and just as much fun for those who couldn’t put a last name to Chita, Patti, or Bernadette if their lives depended on it.

Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley.
www.simi-arts.org

–Steven Stanley
April 23, 2022
Photos: Tom Hall

Tags: John O’Farrell, Karey Kirkpatrick, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Ventura County Theater Review, Wayne Kirkpatrick