Break An Egg: Something Rotten! Stratford Festival Review

Something Rotten! is directed and choreographed by Donna Feore and tells the story of the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, two struggling playwrights in Renaissance London, who are looking for their chance at greatness, sadly only finding themselves overshadowed by the one, the only, the crowd-chanting and charismatic, William Shakespeare. In desperate times, comes desperate measures and with the divine (or deceptive?) help of a soothsayer, a musical is born.

               

Highlights:                      

👉Jeff Lillico was hilarious as The Bard (aka Shakespeare) with his show-stopping rocker confidence on stage and expertise timing of hair-flips.

👉Dan Chameroy as Thomas Nostradamus was just pure gold in his role and every moment on stage gave  you a full belly-laugh.

👉The rapid fire musical theatre references included some costuming brilliance in its execution that I won’t be spoiling. It felt like a nostalgic trip back in time with such fond memories (ps. our first visit together to the Festival Theatre was Fiddler on the Roof)  

👉The hilarious tap-dancing dance-off duel was endlessly funny from start to finish between quick-wittted Shakespeare, played by Jeff Lillico  and the beating heart of the musical, Nick Bottom, played by Mark Uhre.

👉Starr Domingue as Bea hit all the right notes with a hefty dose of sassy female empowerment and the beauty of true partnership in the song "Right Hand Man".

👉The genuine love affair to secretly long for between Nigel played by the whimsical, Henry Firmston and Portia, played by Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane. Both of their performances were so genuine and together, they are about as sweet as the sugar in one’s tea cup on a mid-summer’s night. 

👉Steve Ross as Shylock, a Jewish money-lender, was a sure-fit for this role, keeping us laughing with plenty of Yiddish references along the way.   

With over 14 production numbers in the show (music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick), included are some egg-cellent dance routines that got its well-deserved standing ova-tion. 

👉I cannot forget to mention the ensemble cast. This musical reached a new height as they gave their heart and soul into every note, twirl and leg thrust. Sitting there in the audience, you could feel it.

Book your tickets because if you’ve been stuck in the camp of  “God I Hate Shakespeare!” trust me, you’re gonna love it.

💜Official website: https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/

Moments in Stratford

To my followers: On a personal note, I recently lost my brother and so I've been deep in the grieving woods and trying to make my way through it.   I want to thank my husband, Bill, for taking me to Stratford to enjoy this fantastic musical and experience a few hours of laughter and smiles.