Believe it or not tonight I saw the musical Something Rotten for the 4th time this year. I’ve seen it 9 times since the pandemic so to say that it is popular in Utah would be an understatement. Usually with comedic shows the comedy starts to wear on me after a while, but fortunately that is not the case with Something Rotten. It made me laugh the first time I saw it and it still makes me laugh on the 9th time.

If you are unfamiliar with the story of Something Rotten it’s a farce written to poke fun at all things theatre in particular Shakespeare and musicals. The lead characters are Nick and Nigel Bottom and they are Renaissance playwrights who have to compete with the biggest bard of them all William Shakespeare. Through various contrivances they get a glimpse into the future and decide to start the modern musical in 1590 to revolutionize theater.

In all the Something Rotten I’ve seen there are varying degrees that the company choses to lean into the musical theatre scavenger hunt of it all. I’ve seen productions where every ensemble member in “A Musical” is dressed up in an iconic musical theater costume but then I’ve seen others where no special costumes are used and it is left only to the lyrics to do all the parody in the songs. Director David Morgan and his team at The Ruth have found a happy medium between these extremes. This is smart because it is enough to entertain the hardcore musical theatre fans without alienating newcomers who won’t get more obscure references (my Dad saw it with me at one of the more intense versions I’ve seen and he didn’t get most of the references and jokes. I think he’d like this one at The Ruth much better.)

The cast is all great here. Blake Barlow and Austin Dorman make believable brothers as Nick and Nigel respectively and Jordan Nicholes has the bravado to pull off rock star Shakespeare (one interesting aspect of Something Rotten is Shakespeare is the most memorable character but he’s actually not in that much. He barely appears in Act 1 until “Will Power” and then in Act 2 he only has one song “Hard to be the Bard.”) The Ruth stages those two songs like a concert complete with adoring fans shrieking and brightly colored lighting (Ryan Fallis.)

I was a little disappointed they didn’t do more with the set and other production elements for “We See the Light.” No stained glass or even church pews to set the scene. I know it is a dream sequence but it made the song feel a little forgettable when it is one of my favorites. I also wish the company had come out into the aisles like they did with their recent production of An American in Paris or Cinderella. It just could have been more immersive. My final point of critique is the sound mix was off some particularly for Shakespeare’s songs. It makes the singing feel less professional when they are having to yell above the music.

All that said the production does what it needs to do- it makes the audience laugh. I don’t know how one doesn’t laugh at ridiculous songs like “Make an Omelette” with eggs jumping around (costumes by Lexi Goldsberry.) But with all the laughs there is a sweet story of brotherly friendship, being true to oneself and finding love both new and in ones marriage partner. It makes for a very fun night of community theatre.

They tone down some of the more bawdy humor at The Ruth so Something Rotten is appropriate for the entire family. It is playing through October 4th and tickets can be purchased here.

Something Rotten features music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick and a book by Karey and John O’Farrell.

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