Audiences returned to the Renaissance and experienced Shakespearean comedy with a modern twist as the Wabash Theater Department opened its fall season with the first musical to hit the Ball Theater stage in nearly a decade.
“Something Rotten!” opened November 1 and ran through November 4 with performances at 8 p.m. each evening.
Written by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, “Something Rotten!” is set in the 1590s and follows brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom as they desperately attempt 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 theater involves singing, dancing, and acting at the same time, the duo set out to write the world’s very first musical.
Organizing one of the biggest productions in the College’s history—which involved securing support and funding, enlisting a choreographer and vocal director, uniting an age-range of cast members, an orchestra, and stage crew, and much, much more—was a complex but exciting endeavor for Director and Theater Professor Michael Abbott.
“It’s been a journey, easily one of the hardest things I’ve done,” said Abbott, who started working on bringing the satirical B