Something Rotten!

Book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell; Music and Lyrics by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick

Set in the 1590s, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as "The Bard." When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first musical. But amidst the scandalous excitement of opening night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self, and all that jazz.

Directed by Tony Targan

Performance dates: January 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 2024

Synopsis: In this first of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays, 15-year-old Eugene Jerome dreams of girls and baseball. But in his everyday life he must cope with the mundane existence of family life in 1937 Brooklyn -- a formidable mother, an overworked father, and his worldly older brother Stanley. Throw into the mix his widowed Aunt Blanche and her two young (but rapidly maturing) daughters, and you have a recipe for hilarity served up Neil Simon style. With warmhearted humor, this bittersweet memoir evocatively captures the life of a struggling Jewish household, where, as Eugene's father states, "if you didn't have a problem, you wouldn't be living here."