First of all, the Ahmanson Theatre has just gone for the theatre trifecta\u2014this is their third beyond-fabulous production in a row! Keep up the great work, guys! (And the two before it were really good, as well; just not as special as this last trio.)<\/p>\n
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/10_RottenTour_13601.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p><\/div>\n
Second of all, you\u2019re an idiot if you\u2019re anywhere near Southern California for the rest of the year, and miss this show. Or see it and are not floored by its absolute brilliance! On every level\u2014I\u2019ve rarely seen such a completely talented production, (which is bad syntax, but you get the gist,) outside of my previous favorite Broadway show–The Drowsy Chaperone<\/em>.\u00a0 For so many years now, I didn’t think anything could get any better than that, but Something Rotten<\/em> actually surpasses it a bit. Which makes sense since they share director\/choreographer Casey Nicholaw. What a talent he is! [Note #1: How Fun Home<\/em> beat Something Rotten<\/em> in any<\/em> category at the 2015 Tonys, let alone five<\/em> of them, is beyond a mystery to me.] [Note #2: Don’t worry–I’m still Karen\u2014which means that\u00a0Peter Pan <\/em>and Beauty and the Beast<\/em> are close behind these other two as my all-time favorites.]<\/p>\n I was so madly in love with the downright brilliance I was witnessing that I could barely write any notes\u2014I didn\u2019t want to take my eyes off the stage for even one second! So, please bear with me as I try to cover all the greatness of Something Rotten<\/em> from memory. And this time, I just may give up going in chronological order on a review. This show knocked what little bit of \u201cnormal\u201d I had left right out of me! [Note #3: Mr. X just asked me why I was having such a hard time writing this review. He pondered that I broke my exclamation point key because he knows that I want to throw a whole bunch after every single sentence of this review to show you guys just how in love with this show I am!!!!!! (No luck for him though, who hates those punctuation marks, because see? They still work!)]<\/p>\n Josh Grisetti and Rob McClure and company. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p><\/div>\n My head hurt from how brilliant the writers are!\u00a0 How can mere humans come up with this stuff? The storyline and writing is extraordinarily clever and the song lyrics are pure genius! What a creative team this is\u2014Karey Kirkpatrick and John O\u2019Farrell wrote the book, with music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, who are the brothers who came up with the whole shebang to begin with! (They had me at siblings getting along<\/em>!) And then it was all brought vividly to life, by the aforementioned director\/choreographer Casey Nicholaw. Wow, to it all. (With sentences like that last one I just wrote, can you see why I\u2019m so impressed with such inventive writing?)<\/p>\n This is how riotous this show is–I still can\u2019t believe that Mel Brooks didn\u2019t write it! In the tiniest of ways, (in that it hilariously skewers a historical period,) it reminded me a tad of Springtime for Hitler<\/em>, the supposedly-bad, but downright side-splitting musical that the producers come up with to lose money in The Producers<\/em>. That may sound weird, (it sort-of does to me<\/em>,) but I mean it as a major compliment.<\/p>\n Blake Hammond and Rob McClure. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p><\/div>\n And this is how outstanding Something Rotten<\/em> is\u2014on opening night, we gave it a standing ovation...in the middle of the first act<\/em>!!!! I\u2019ve seen that done only one other time in my entire theatre-going life, which is practically since I was born. I have a feeling that every<\/em> audience who sees this show does that, but I can vouch for only mine. The incredible song we all spontaneously sprang to our feet for is A Musical<\/em>; trust me, you\u2019ll know which one it is instantly. If the show had been over after just that one big production number, we would have still all gone home happy.<\/p>\n I honestly don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen so many truly<\/em> talented people in one place before. Every single person on stage can sing, dance, act, and be funny. Let\u2019s face it–there\u2019s usually at least one<\/em> lemon in every bunch, who makes you wonder what they did to get the job. But there are no producer\u2019s cousin\u2019s best friend\u2019s nephew\u2019s girlfriends in this show. Everyone gives his or her all, without being obnoxious and\/or full of themselves.<\/p>\n Real-life spouses Maggie Lakis and Rob McClure. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p><\/div>\n All the leads<\/em> do stand-out, though. The star, Rob McClure, is perfect. And here\u2019s a little casting tidbit that you just know I absolutely adore\u2014he and Maggie Lakis, the wonderful actress who plays his wife, are…real-life spouses! I thought<\/em> their on-stage kisses seemed a little too juicy to be just castmates! (God, I love being right!)<\/p>\n I must also laud Adam Pascal (Shakespeare,) Blake Hammond (Nostradamus,) Josh Grisetti (Josh,) Autumn Hurlbert (Portia,) and Scott Cote (Brother Jeremiah.) And I loved the fabulous voice of Nick Rashad Burroughs, who, as the Minstrel, starts the show off on the perfect note.<\/p>\n Okay, you know that I\u2019m not going to give you the play-by-play, as most other critics do who don\u2019t mind ruining your experience of a show, just to prove that they understood what they saw. (Makes you wonder what their high\u00a0school\u00a0life was like, right?) But you might want to be aware that the story involves Shakespeare and his writing. And that it\u2019s a laugh riot. That\u2019s all you really need to know going in. (And that I\u2019m telling you to see it, of course!) You do not even need to know much about Shakespeare\u2019s plays beforehand. (But a slight<\/em> knowledge of Broadway musicals through the years will be beneficial.)<\/p>\n Adam Pascal and company. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p><\/div>\n I do have to tell you about one song, though. In a different review that I wrote just a week and a half ago, I confessed that I am not<\/em> a fan of Shakespeare, something that most others are loathe to admit, even though, let\u2019s face it, I cannot be the only bard-eschewer on earth. So when the lead guy started singing God, I Hate Shakespeare<\/em>, I guffawed the loudest of the entire assemblage! Finally hearing someone else, even a fictional character, who doesn\u2019t mean it in the same way that I<\/em> do, admit they hate Shakespeare is music to my ears! And, since it\u2019s the second number in the show, I knew right away that I was in for a fun night.<\/p>\n For once, I barely noticed the set or costumes, outside of the hilarious codpieces, because I was so mesmerized by the action. All the technical categories are strong, but when I\u2019m really<\/em> seeing a show\u2019s sets and costumes, that usually means that I\u2019m not engrossed in the production, which is the case with most theatre presentations I review. So I\u2019m glad that they were not my main focus in this one. (But those codpieces really are<\/em> a riot.)<\/p>\n Autumn Hurlbert and Josh Grisetti. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p><\/div>\n Okay people, this is the definitive statement of just how much I loved Something Rotten: there was constant mention of, (along with visuals\u2014eww,) of my most dreaded thing on earth, which I\u2019m sure you regular readers know what it is\u2014e-words<\/em>!!! (For you newbies to this e-zine, I can\u2019t even type the word, but they\u2019re those little white ovals that people usually eat for breakfast, often in the form of an omelette. Ugh.) And I got through it without getting nauseous! And with laughing my butt off!!! For me to love a show where those hens\u2019 products feature prominently in the story is proof of my admiration. [Sidebar: There\u2019s a music producer who had a crush on me back when I was doing my TV show. (Actually, who didn\u2019t<\/em>?!) He told me that, to make me leave Mr. X, to give himself a chance with me, he planned to send me a dozen e-words and sign the card… \u201cLove, Mr. X!\u201d That\u2019s how much I hate those things! Good idea, but I know Mr. X would never do such a thing. Wait\u2014maybe, at this point in our long relationship, I shouldn\u2019t give him any ideas!]<\/p>\n Rob McClure, Maggie Lakis and Josh Grisetti. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p><\/div>\n Bottom line here: Go see Something Rotten<\/em>! I\u2019m hoping to go back at least one more time while I have the chance. And it being in town now<\/em> is perfect timing\u2014what a wonderful holiday gift tickets to this show will be!<\/p>\n It\u2019s here until the day<\/em> of New Year\u2019s Eve, (even though I\u2019ve been begging the Ahmanson to extend the run.) So if you want to do something New Year\u2019s Eve-y, but don\u2019t want to go out at night<\/em>, see this show that afternoon. You\u2019ll be so exhausted from their<\/em> exertion that you\u2019ll be happy to go home and stay in yourself that night. And re-run the whole magical experience in your head, as I\u2019ve<\/em> been doing for a week now! Something Rotten<\/em> is really<\/em> something special<\/em>!<\/p>\n Something Rotten<\/em> running through December 31, 2017<\/strong> SOMETHING ROTTEN It\u2019s now been a week since the opening night of Something Rotten at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown L.A., but I keep re-writing my review of it because I want this to be as good as this musical itself! I finally realized that that\u2019s never going to happen, because Something Rotten is the<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
\n Ahmanson Theatre \u00a0135 N. Grand Ave. \u00a0213-972-4400 \u00a0www.CenterTheatreGroup.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"