I saw the hilarious Something Rotten! in New York 3 times. It's one of my all time faves thanks to the fabulous cast they compiled and the ridiculous number of inside theatre jokes they managed to pack in. It really is a laugh a minute show! So I was very excited to see it here in Baltimore with 3 of the fabulous actors that appeared in the Broadway version (just not when I saw it) - Adam Pascal, Rob McClure and John Grisetti.
Now, I did actually see Rob McClure as Nick Bottom, my last time seeing the show. And I thought he was so great. He's like a mini Brian d'Arcy James. He's got the singing and the dancing and sounds and even looks a lot like Brian so he was perfect for the part. I really liked him in this version as well. John Grisetti was a new Nigel to me and while he was no John Cariani, he brought his own neuroses and weirdness to the character that was also perfect. Nigel wasn't as overly-worried this time around, but he was still very, very funny.
My main problem with this version was Shakespeare. Now, before I say anything I want to say that I love Adam Pascal and I loved him in RENT. He's amazing and has an amazing voice. I just don't think he's so fabulous at comedy. He's definitely not Christian Borle - who was perfect in that part! Adam had all the swagger and rock-star-iness but none of the joke-telling. He was also pretty terrible with his York accent which was a plot point. In one paragraph, he was from York, then England then Ireland. It was just a teensy bit distracting.
As for the rest of the cast and the show it was awesome as usual! All of the fun and eggs were there. I did notice one song though, changed from the original production which I'm a bit perplexed by. I've never seen a touring cast just cut a song before. But it didn't do much to the plot so I suppose it wasn't such a big deal. All in all, Something Rotten! is the most fabulous way to spend Shakespeare's birthday!
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