Mask and Rose Women’s Theater Collective Debut’s “Something Rotten” Broadway Musical
Hit Broadway musical “Something Rotten” has made its way to Puposky, the Renaissance era musical comedy making its debut on Thursday.
While many of you may have heard the name William Shakespeare a time or two in your life, you may not have heard the name Nicholas Bottom. His story is told in the form of a comedic musical set in the 16th century.
My character Nick Bottom and Nigelina Bottom are brother and sister, and they are trying to compete with Shakespeare.” explains actor Eric Callagan, who played Nick Bottom in the play, “So they’re trying to write the big thing that’ll get people into theaters during the Renaissance period. Nostradamus says musicals are going to be the thing of the future, so we start writing a musical and everything just kind of goes haywire from there.”
Not everyone was a big fan of his mission, though.
“In the early 1600s, the theaters actually did get pulled down by the Puritans.” said actress Tiffany Barta, who played Brother Jeremiah, “So there’s a little bit of historical accuracy there. Then Brother Jeremiah is kind of the trailblazer of doing that.”
This particular rendition of the play was put on by the Mask and Rose Women’s Theater Collective. The group is a nonprofit 501c3 organization dedicated to supporting and creating opportunities for women in the performing arts. But the acting is not limited to only women.
“We’ve got a lot of great actors in this, too, so everyone just makes it really funny and really energetic.” said Callagan.
The show had a great turnout for their opening night at the Wild Rose Theater off of Highway 89 – but productions like this do not come easily.
“We’ve been preparing for it for about three and a half months.” said Callagan, “It’s a little bit longer than normal, but, you know, that’s given us more time to learn the lines and prepare for the show, and learn the blocking.”
“Seven day a week rehearsals.” adds Barta, “We started out with about a month of just singing the music, and then we had the privilege of being able to practice with a full set so that was really nice.”
Although the Mask and Rose Women’s Theater’s production of “Something Rotten” is over, the Wild Rose Theater will not find itself empty for long… as an original stage play called “The Poets” will return next weekend.
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