By Megan Fraedrich
Welcome to the Renaissance, a time of inventive inspiration, scientific discovery, and, if this present is to be believed, an terrible lot of jazz fingers. In One thing Rotten!, Good Shepherd Gamers has found the alchemical formulation to remedy the wintertime blues. This present has every thing: tap-dancing eggs, a cheery song-and-dance quantity concerning the Black Loss of life, Cats! the musical, Elizabethan playwrights hitting the dab, and a firebrand Puritan who can’t assist however flip every thing he says into an innuendo.
The viewers’s rapturous response to GSP’s opening night time efficiency says all of it: One thing Rotten! is a success, each riotously humorous and emotionally resonant.
The premise is easy sufficient: brothers Nick and Nigel Backside are struggling playwrights who can’t appear to catch a break whereas William Shakespeare is sucking up all the eye. Determined for a giant break, Nick hires a soothsayer to inform him what the following massive factor in showbiz will probably be. The reply? A musical! The remaining is … something however silence. With loads of disguises, dance breaks, love tales, and homages to all your favourite musicals, this bawdy tackle the Bard is an absolute delight.
Director Nancy Lavallee’s love for the fabric is clear all through, with so many inventive little touches like a blink-and-you-miss-it Hamilton reference. She has allowed her solid to play with the fabric and make daring, zany selections — completely the proper name for this piece.
Jared Diallo set the tone for the musical because the charming Minstrel and narrator, welcoming the viewers to the world of the Renaissance with tongue-in-cheek aptitude and nimble, resonant vocals. From the very begin, the massive ensemble fills the whole stage with vibrant vitality and a dizzying array of interval costumes by Donna Sisson. (Greatest costume award goes to Matthew Bradley as one of many Bard Boys, sporting a black leather-based doublet with extraordinarily cool pointed shoulders.)
Within the Backside brothers’ oft-told backstory, Nick carried his brother on his again all the way in which from Cornwall. Appropriately, as Nick, Andy Shaw carries the present with a boundless properly of vitality, frenetic comedian timing, and a real reward for storytelling by music. As his dorky, lovesick poet brother, Nigel, Craig Goeringer actually shines. Nigel is a real harmless with a pure coronary heart and an inclination to hyperventilate, and Goeringer makes him lovable and cringeworthy without delay. His clean tenor voice and exquisite falsetto deliver coronary heart to the foolish plot. Though each absolutely embraced over-the-top humor, Shaw and Goeringer’s bond and love for each other as brothers feels true.
Each additionally confirmed the identical robust chemistry with their characters’ love pursuits, Bea (Maura Lacy) and Portia (Megan Fisher), respectively. Lacy brightens up the stage because the spunky, can-do Bea and has a chameleonic knack for disguise. As Bea is by far probably the most competent character onstage, you’ll be able to’t assist however root for her all through. Fisher performs the Puritan chief’s repressed daughter who can also be a closet poetry fanatic. Watching her and Goeringer nerd out about poetry to the purpose of ecstasy is completely lovely, if maybe hitting a little bit too near house for us Shakespeare followers within the viewers. Fisher’s clear, robust voice navigates a large vocal vary and blends flawlessly with Goeringer’s.
In a bit this kooky, the robust supporting solid usually steals the present with outrageous antics. As daffy soothsayer Nostradamus — no, not that one, his nephew, Thomas Nostradamus — Chris Dockins is completely side-splitting. He exudes traditional musical theater appeal with the benefit of respiration and leads the present’s largest manufacturing quantity, merely referred to as “It’s a Musical,” a tour de pressure that parodies Broadway conventions all through the a long time. Having beforehand loved Dockins’ performances in a number of different Good Shepherd Gamers exhibits, I couldn’t wait to see him on this larger-than-life function, and he knocked it out of the park. (As Nostradamus would say, “I knew he would!”)
Kevin Donlan was a revelation as Shakespeare, turning the Bard right into a swaggering glam rock star with only a trace of Captain Jack Sparrow. He captivates the viewers every second he’s onstage with star energy (and “Will energy”), belting excessive notes with ease and embracing every wacky comedian bit. Donlan could have outdone the unique Broadway manufacturing together with his portrayal — no imply feat, as the unique actor gained the Tony Award for it.
Rounding out the robust solid of colourful characters are Margaret McGarry’s flamboyant patron, Girl Clapham (trying superb in an elaborate Elizabethan robe!), Jamey Pellegrini’s “very nice” producer Shylock (Shakespeare promised to call a task after him!), and Peter Marsh as Portia’s tyrannical puritan father, Brother Jeremiah. His option to play the function with an exaggerated speech obstacle much like the priest from The Princess Bride or Pilate from The Lifetime of Brian match the tone of the musical completely. Members of the massive ensemble solid who stood out for his or her stage presence in group numbers embody Evan Zimmerman as drag-enthusiast troupe member Robin and Mel Gumina as troupe member Francis Flute and the present’s dance captain.
Did we point out the dancing? Oh, there’s heaps of dancing, notably of the faucet selection, and virtually each character will get to take part. That is an all-singing, all dancing, massive end, jazz-hands musical, and Josie Corrado’s energetic choreography leads the way in which. Whereas not each single solid member executes each step with excellent timing, it’s however a powerful solid of dancers.
Music director Colin Taylor and Rachel Bradley work musical magic, as each character sounds great, and the reside 11-piece orchestra may very well be in knowledgeable manufacturing. As generally happens on opening nights, the sound steadiness between singers and the orchestra at this efficiency was often off, and a few technical glitches with the microphones made it exhausting to listen to a number of key moments, however this was the one noticeable flaw in an in any other case implausible manufacturing and sure a brief one. The easy however efficient set of a Tudor-style half-timbered wall and a raised platform match the motion properly — and one in every of its pink velvet curtains is later repurposed by Diallo to amusing impact.
The best energy of One thing Rotten! is the overwhelming sense of affection for theatre, from its theatre-loving characters to its well-placed references to theatre by the ages. Its parody by no means feels mean-spirited however comes from a spot of affection. For those who’re a Shakespeare buff, there’s loads of his phrases to take pleasure in, and in the event you’re not, you’ll nonetheless deeply benefit from the send-up of Bardolatry. For those who’re a musical theater fan, this piece is a veritable “The place’s Waldo” of motifs and homages to in style Broadway tunes — and in the event you’re not a musical fan, it’s possible you’ll go house from the present as one. In any case, nothing’s extra superb than a musical!
Don’t miss it. You’ll go away grinning from ear to ear, buzzing a catchy tune, and presumably even feeling impressed to your subsequent inventive endeavor. After seeing a stage stuffed with tap-dancing eggs, something appears attainable.
Operating Time: Roughly two hours and 20 minutes with one intermission.
One thing Rotten! performs by March 8, 2026 (2 PM on Sundays and seven:30 on Fridays and Saturdays), introduced by Good Shepherd Gamers acting at Church of the Good Shepherd, 9350 Braddock Street, Burke, VA. Buy tickets (adults, $24.46; college students, $21.40) on-line.
This system for One thing Rotten is on-line right here.
Megan Fraedrich is an actor, director, playwright, advertising skilled, and enthusiastic viewers member from Fairfax, Virginia. A lifelong DMV denizen, she has taken half in over 50 theater productions within the space since elementary faculty, most lately taking part in Rosalind in As You Like It (Globe Openstage) and assistant-directing Our City (Sterling Playmakers). She can also be the Creative Director of Impartial Theatre Firm in Springfield, Virginia, the place she lately edited and co-directed The Good, The Dangerous, and the Ugly: Shakespeare’s Kings and Queens. As a playwright, she has had her work carried out by YAM Productions, Globe Openstage, Workhouse Arts Middle, and Genuine Neighborhood Theatre in Hagerstown. She loves Shakespeare virtually as a lot as Nick Backside hates him.
