{"id":57624,"date":"2026-07-30T01:44:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/?p=57624"},"modified":"2026-07-30T01:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:44:27","slug":"something-rotten-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/2026\/07\/something-rotten-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Stratford Festival Review: The Return of Something Rotten!<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stratford Festival doesn\u2019t usually do remounts but, for Antoni Cimolino\u2019s last season, he gets to do whatever he wants and apparently that means bringing back a greatest hits of sorts when it comes to musical programming. Alongside a revisiting of perennial favourite Guys & Dolls<\/em> (last done in 2017<\/a> with the same director and a different cast), the outgoing Artistic Director has programmed a return of Something Rotten!<\/em>, a smash hit from the 2024 season remounted directly with an almost identical cast.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I reviewed the show last time<\/a> with a fairly harsh eye to the wild lightness of the material. With a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell that condenses to a simple but weird elevator pitch: \u201cA rival playwright tries to outmaneuver Shakespeare with the help of Nostradamus but faces ruin when he prioritizes a misinterpreted prophecy over better artistic instincts\u201d, Something Rotten!<\/em> is high on hijinks, low on story and character development. It hinges entirely on a ridiculous misunderstanding and relies relentlessly on references, innuendo, and puns. It is perhaps the dumbest musical I\u2019ve ever seen. What it is not, and maybe I dismissed this too easily last time, is badly structured, lazily written, or simplistic. It\u2019s not bad, it\u2019s just stupid. On purpose. Some people really love stupid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a joyful leaning in to Something Rotten!<\/em> that\u2019s hard to resist. It\u2019s maximum everything- bold costumes, a big chorus, strong vocals, the loudest you\u2019ve ever heard a Stratford band. Director Donna Feore is famous for her elaborate dance numbers- there are at least five sequences here bigger than the one big showstopper in a more normal show. There\u2019s basically nothing in the way of personal ballads or intimate scenes. At Something Rotten!<\/em>, it\u2019s always go time; the whole show is the eleven o\u2019clock number.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The remounted production is cast to perfection with an unhinged star turn from Mark Uhre and a fabulous against-type deployment of the usually somewhat understated Jeff Lillico<\/a>. Henry Firmston gives a lovely, sincere performance as would-be Romeo Nigel and the great Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane makes a meal of the sweet ingenue character. The chorus is always a highlight of Stratford\u2019s musical fare and they\u2019re showcased here better than ever. It was a thrill to see understudy Alex Kelly in for Dan Chameroy<\/a> in the ridiculous audience-favourite role of Nostradamus, proving the incredible bench depth waiting behind the festival\u2019s perhaps a bit over-used go-tos. I love high-effort theatre and this cast is working their asses off every second aboard this high octane nonsense train.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much to critique in Feore\u2019s production. The all-in seriousness with which every artist involved takes to their task here is what makes the dissonance of the piece work. If you hate the jokes, it just is what it is (I\u2019ll admit I kinda hate the jokes; this piece just wasn\u2019t written for me) but you can\u2019t argue with the intensity of the spectacle. Something Rotten!<\/em> is stupid but by god does this group commit to the bit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Stratford Festival doesn\u2019t usually do remounts but, for Antoni Cimolino\u2019s last season, he gets to do whatever he wants and apparently that means bringing back a greatest hits of sorts when it comes to musical programming. Alongside a revisiting of perennial favourite Guys & Dolls (last done in 2017 with the same director and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Stratford Festival Review: The Return of Something Rotten!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,828,6,1788,365],"coauthors":[1858],"class_list":["post-57624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","tag-musical-theatre","tag-remounts","tag-reviews","tag-stratford-festival","tag-theatre-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-30-at-1.24.25-AM-scaled.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53639,"url":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/2024\/07\/stratford-musicals-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":57624,"position":0},"title":"Stratford Theatre Review: The Stratford Festival’s 2024 Musicals","author":"Kelly Bedard","date":"31 July 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Two wild and silly musicals form the the extravagant core of an overall scaled back Stratford Festival season. Frustratingly, directorial issues mar the more substantive of the two and flimsy material limits how far the better production can soar. \u00a0 Something Rotten!, a 2015 Renaissance comedy by John O'Farrell and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/MixCollage-02-Aug-2024-12-21-PM-7304-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/MixCollage-02-Aug-2024-12-21-PM-7304-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/MixCollage-02-Aug-2024-12-21-PM-7304-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/MixCollage-02-Aug-2024-12-21-PM-7304-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7960,"url":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/2010\/06\/next-season-in-stratford\/","url_meta":{"origin":57624,"position":1},"title":"Next Season in Stratford","author":"Kelly Bedard","date":"28 June 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has just announced their 2011 roster. Here are the highlights (and lowlights): Richard III: it's a great play, fascinating really. But it is 99.9% dependent on a truly solid leading man. It needs someone who will bring something new to the part and keep the audience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/46710-004-44d960f5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52934,"url":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/2024\/02\/2023-award-winners-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":57624,"position":2},"title":"2023 Critics\u2019 Pick Award Winners: Theatre","author":"Kelly Bedard","date":"05 February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time to announce the winners of our 2023 Critics' Pick Awards! Click the links below to read our reviews of the winning work. Congratulations to all of the nominees on a spectacular year of theatre. \u00a0 Without further ado, the 2023 Critics' Pick Award Winners for Toronto Theatre: \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Awards-Theatre-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Awards-Theatre-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Awards-Theatre-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Awards-Theatre-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53733,"url":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/2024\/09\/stratford-festival-must-see-the-diviners\/","url_meta":{"origin":57624,"position":3},"title":"Stratford Festival Must-See: The Diviners","author":"Kelly Bedard","date":"11 September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My favourite Stratford production so far* this year is undoubtedly The Diviners, Verne Thiessen & Yvette Nolan\u2019s grand adaptation of Margaret Laurence\u2019s novel of the same name. \u00a0 Staged with beautiful fluidity by Krista Jackson with Genevi\u00e8ve Pelletier, the production contains some of the season\u2019s grandest celebration and its quietest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/diviners-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/diviners-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/diviners-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/diviners-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53941,"url":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/2025\/01\/steve-ross\/","url_meta":{"origin":57624,"position":4},"title":"Nominee Interview Series: Steve Ross","author":"Kelly Bedard","date":"30 January 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Before we announce the winners of our 2024 Critics' Pick Awards, we're proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. \u00a0 Stratford Festival stalwart Steve Ross not only had the season of his career at the festival this past summer, appearing in Something Rotten and taking on the flashy starring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured Podcast"","block_context":{"text":"Featured Podcast","link":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/featured-podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/MixCollage-28-Jan-2025-08-34-PM-784-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/MixCollage-28-Jan-2025-08-34-PM-784-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/MixCollage-28-Jan-2025-08-34-PM-784-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/MixCollage-28-Jan-2025-08-34-PM-784-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51105,"url":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/2022\/07\/shaw-stratford-in-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":57624,"position":5},"title":"Shaw & Stratford in 2022","author":"Kelly Bedard","date":"25 July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The landing page for all of our Shaw & Stratford Festival reviews from the 2022 season. Stay tuned as this page will update throughout the summer.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Collage-Maker-25-Aug-2022-05.42-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Collage-Maker-25-Aug-2022-05.42-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Collage-Maker-25-Aug-2022-05.42-PM.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Collage-Maker-25-Aug-2022-05.42-PM.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Pp3m-eZq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57628,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57624\/revisions\/57628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57624"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myentertainmentworld.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=57624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}