Picture: Pamela Raith
Something Rotten! continues at the Opera House, Manchester until 19 July 2026.
First things first, this is not a review.
Only local writers were invited to review the current production of Something Rotten!, the Broadway success that has belatedly made it in full production form to Britain, the land in which it is set. Instead, this is what might be called an appreciation, one in which it will become clear that the reviewer – sorry, appreciator, if that’s a word? – found a huge deal to appreciate.
How fitting, for example, that a musical in which Will (not William) Shakespeare is a central character contains a line of such refined elegance as “Don’t be a penis, the man is a genius.” Shakespeare himself is the genius being referred to in, ‘God, I Hate Shakespeare’, while Jason Manford’s Nick Bottom is both the penis and the show’s courageous hero.
It’s not King Lear and does not pretend to be. In a filmed interview prior to the start of the five-week run, Manford noted that nobody goes out “for a good think”. Rather, they go out to be entertained. Something Rotten!, a show that received ten Tony nominations in 2015, is thoroughly entertaining.
Acclaimed British author John O’Farrell and American brothers Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick created an entirely fictitious show that revolves around Bottom’s increasingly desperate attempt to write a hit show. Frustrated by the success of Shakespeare, portrayed by the excellent Richard Fleeshman as a vain and smouldering sensation, Bottom is persuaded by a soothsayer related to Nostradamus that the future of theatre will revolve around musicals. Bottom is even told what his rival’s finest future work will be, which is why the first musical in the history of musical theatre ends up being named Omelette.
The whole thing is completely daft and wonderful. ‘A Musical’, Something Rotten!’s standout number, is a seven-minute-plus belter that gently ridicules the genre while at the same time paying homage to the likes of Les Misérables, Chicago and A Chorus Line. At the Thursday night show I attended, it almost achieved a mid-act standing ovation. Had one occurred, it would have been merited.
Manford, Fleeshman and the ever magnificent Marisha Wallace work their socks off throughout, appearing to love every second of their time on stage. A special nod is also owed to Cory English, whose Nostradamus comes close to stealing the show during ‘A Musical’. That said, so many give so much during a laughter-filled two and a half hours that is packed with songs that stick in the mind, not least ‘Welcome to the Renaissance’, the supremely catchy number that kicks off proceedings and then gets two mini repeats.
It is now two years since the three leads first inhabited their roles for two Drury Lane concert performances of Something Rotten! It would be wrong to say tickets for this Manchester stretch were gobbled up within hours but it would still be a crying shame if Tim Jackson’s joyous production did not get to enjoy the West End transfer afforded to so many other musicals that have debuted in Manchester.
It really is excellent, more than worthy of a five-star appreciation.
Lee Mottershead
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