Brookfield Central Theater Department’s Something Rotten, a departure from past renditions of popular plays like Matilda in favor of a lesser known, more witty story, proved to be greatly entertaining with impressive sets and energetic musical pieces.
The play follows Nick Bottom (Jacob Brunner) and his brother Nigel (Harper Guenther), aspiring writers and poets respectively, who struggle to get their ideas off the ground during the Renaissance while William Shakespeare (Nathan Povlovich) thrives. In an attempt to provide for his family, Nick consults the town soothsayer (Max Martin) and learns about musicals taking place in the future. He spends the rest of the play trying to write his own in order to raise his family from poverty.
Friday night’s production was a success by all counts. Enthusiastic acting and great musical performance by the pit orchestra, all staples of BC’s Theater Department, were on full display. Even more impressive was the set design. The enormous background buildings carried detail that was visible from any seat. A senior in stagecrew remarked on this after the play: “[The sets] were so huge. We haven’t done anything that big before”. The fachwerk style of the houses also matched perfectly with the style of the actors’ costumes.
Fortunately, the cast matched the Build Crew’s effort. All actors managed to fit right into the story’s unique style. The leads, particularly Povlich, Brunner, and Martin, had the right comedic timing to pull off every adult joke. Both the backgrounds and leads also carried their weight during the musical numbers. There was no shortage of great singing performances from the collective cast and lead actors like Malena Sorrentino, who portrayed Bea, Nick Bottom’s wife, and Bella Bloxham, who portrayed Portia, a puritan girl.
“The singers were really good and everything was really well-synced, especially the dances” agreed an attending BC sophomore when asked his thoughts on the play.
The preparations needed to pull off ‘Something Rotten’ have been in full swing over the past few weeks. It is well known that the cast and pit orchestra have endured increasingly long rehearsals to get everything right. Although they are not visible from the audience, the members of the stage crew also put a lot of effort into ensuring the play runs smoothly. Owen Ziebell, a junior in charge of operating the sound and microphones, spoke about his role and stagecrew’s work behind the scenes: “It’s cool getting to see everything directly…We get the cues for the sound and projections and use a Macbook to activate them during the play. There’s another spot above us where the spotlights are, and the lighting effects are stressful to handle. Outside of where we are, there are people doing work with muting and un-muting, and people backstage behind the scenes moving the props. If you don’t have all these things, you could still get the musical done, but it would still be missing a lot. All the tech and stage crew really bring the show to life.”
As the musical wraps up this weekend, all who were involved will be able to enjoy some celebration and well-earned rest. The BC Theater Department will return for their Winter Musical Little Woman, which will open on January 29th.
