by Terrance Mc Arthur

What if William Shakespeare was a bad guy? Conceited, conniving—something rotten? That’s what happens in Something Rotten, the Karey Kirkpatrick/Wayne Kirkpatrick/John O’Farrell 2015 musical, now playing as a Good Company Players production at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater through January 18.

The Bottom Brothers, Nick (Teddy Maldonado) and Nigel (Nick Sterling), have a theatre troupe in 1595 London, but they are always one-upped by a former employee, William Shakespeare (Shawn Williams). Nick seeks what the next big thing in theatre would be from a soothsayer (Steve Souza). The answer—MUSICALS! And Shakespeare’s next hit? OMELET! The Bottoms launch a cracked scheme to produce a yolk-filled, tuneful combination of Bard, Broadway, and Brunch references. Nick’s wife, Bea (Emily Pessano), dresses as a man to get work. Nigel falls for Portia (Karlie Stemler), the poetry-loving daughter of Brother Jeremiah (Roger Christensen), a Puritan who sees theatre as the work of Satan. There’s a noble patron (Izsac Valencia) tired of backing flops, and Shylock (Peter Allen), a theatre-loving moneylender who is legally barred from partnerships with Christians, and there is chaos, disguises, lots of character names that are character names from Shakespeare plays, random lines from Shakespeare’s works, and lines and words that take the play far out of the bring-the-kiddies zone.

Cast of GCP’s production of “Something Rotten”

[Admittedly, some of the summary you just read was part of the summary I wrote for the 2020 GCP production, which included several people in this production.]

Maldonado is frantic, frazzled, and frustrated as the actor-director who can’t get out from the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon’s shadow. He gets some fun songs to sing—venting about Shakespeare and dreaming of success. He’s like a kinder-and-gentler version of Bialystock in The Producers; he schemes and does some underhanded things, but with a conscience and good intentions.

Pessano returns as Bea, Nick Bottoms’ wife. She sings, she dances, and she does a move that causes involuntary gasps in the audience, and she smiles! She gets to do one of the great Shakespearean tropes, pretending to be a male lawyer in a courtroom. On top of that, she is one of the show’s choreographers.

Cast of GCP’s production of “Something Rotten”

Another returnee, Souza is wild and crazy as the prognosticator who doesn’t get everything right. In the tour-de-force “A Musical” number, he leads the cast in a breakneck homage to the Broadway musical, borrowing snippets from shows that range from Annie to South Pacific to Les Miz to Oklahoma to A Chorus Line to Phantom of the Opera and more, an overwhelming, laugh-filled explosion on the stage.

Williams is Shakespeare again, a rock-and-roll superstar of the Elizabethan era. He’s cool and he knows it, whether he’s shimmying with studly backup Bard Boy dancers or scheming to steal the play written by Nigel Bottom.

Cast of GCP’s production of “Something Rotten”

Sterling, as Nigel, is gentle, self-doubting, and the source of Shakespeare’s best ideas. He shines in his tender scenes with Portia. As Portia, Stemler is reminiscent of Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory, Night Court), cute and spunky as a Puritan lass who longs for things she is denied by her father’s religious restrictions.

Christensen, another 2020-production veteran is blustery and domineering as the Puritan leader who sees the Devil at work in everything that makes people happy. He gets many of the naughty lines, said by a character who doesn’t realize the double entendres he says until he’s said them. He’s a comic gem.
Allen is Shylock, the moneylender with a yen to be a part of the theatrical world. Jonathan Wheeeler provides musical framing to the show as the Minstrel, who sets the tone with “Welcome to the Renaissance.”

Cast of GCP’s production of “Something Rotten”

Ginger Kay Lewis-Reed and her costume crew pulls us into the Elizabethan world with every farthingale and codpiece. David Pierce is the Master of Origami Set Design, with scenery that folds and unfolds, conceals and reveals.

Laurie Pessano directs with an awareness of the whimsy and satire in the script, and she provides additional choreography. Kaye Migaki lends her choreography to tap-dancing routines. Tap-dancing in1595? You betcha!

The GCP Junior Company honors Broadway musicals with a medley of great songs from great shows, aided by special guests from the night’s show, Caitlin Sawatsky and Khari Somerville.

Something Rotten is the flip-side of Shakespeare In Love, turning England’s greatest playwright into a villain, and throwing anachronisms left and right. It makes for an evening of giddy mirth. Something Rotten is Something Fantastic!

Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater is at 1226 N. Wishon Ave. at Olive Ave. For tickets and further information, go to gcplayers.com, or call (559) 266-9494.

If you love local theatre, be sure to check out Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast, which features mysteries read by local actors. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and also on podbean.

Check out more theatre reviews & other local entertainment articles in our Arts & Entertainment section. You can also find more theatre coming up on KRL’s Local Theatre event page.

Terrance V. Mc Arthur worked for the Fresno County Public Library for three decades. He is retired, but not retiring. A storyteller, puppeteer, writer, actor, magician, basketmaker, and all-around interesting person, his goal is to make life more unusual for everyone he meets.