Last night, I went to see Something Rotten!, which is playing in downtown L.A. at the Ahmanson through December 31. A woman sitting behind us kept announcing in a too-loud voice that she'd heard it had been extended into 2018 but I just checked and I see it opens in Sacramento on January 2 so I don't think she knew what she was talking about. The tour continues from there to Salt Lake City, then Ft. Worth, then Hershey, PA followed by many other places. Here's the list. If it wanders your way, go see it because I highly recommend it.
It's the story of two brothers who in the year 1595 are competing with William Shakespeare to make a splash in the theater. This is one of those "the less I tell you about the plot, the more you'll like it" things so I'll just say that their struggle affords ample opportunity for catchy musical numbers, a serviceable romantic sub-plot, very clever costumes, and a lot of funny stuff, much of it references to modern-day theater. At one point, I got a little weary of the anachronisms but then, lo and behold, they came up with some that were so funny, I forgave them.
The cast is quite wonderful, especially Rob McClure and Josh Grisetti as the two brothers and Adam Pascal as Shakespeare. And there's a number in the first act called "A Musical" which some of you may have caught in a truncated version on the Tony Awards show a few years back. In fact, they made it the opening. It's as hilarious and fine as any song I've ever seen on a stage and the biggest problem with the show is that Act Two can't quite keep up the batting average of Act One. You will enjoy the evening or matinee the most if you know a little about musical comedy history and a lot about Shakespeare, though neither is required.
Some of you may remember that I originally had tickets for 11/28 and then I got an invite to the Len Wein Memorial at the Writers Guild and it was that night. So I sold those tickets and bought a pair for last night. When we got to our seats, there was a little gift-wrapped packet on mine and I assumed it was a mistake. No mistake. Inside was a tiny Something Rotten! notebook and a note that said, in part…
Mr. Evanier,
We can't help but notice that you're coming to multiple performances of Something Rotten! We hope you're enjoying the show, and wanted to thank you for your ongoing support of our work at the Ahmanson Theater.
That's a nice gesture and it will be even nicer if it isn't followed by endless phone calls trying to get me to subscribe…which I might do if all their productions were as good as this one. In any case, I noticed a lot of these little gift packets on other seats so that's a good indicator that other people are liking this show as much as I did.