‘Something Rotten’ production runs March 21-24

Even before last year’s production of “Newsies” ended, Bay High School theatre director Luke Scattergood was getting questions about the school’s next show.

After months of anticipation, the school revealed its next show to students: “Something Rotten.”

A parody of the classic Shakespeare formula, “Something Rotten” took Broadway by storm in 2015, before eventually moving off of Broadway in 2017.

This year’s show will feature over 100 members cast and crew combined, Scattergood said.

“Every year, once we finish our spring musical, we get bombarded with kids asking us what the next year’s show is going to be,” he said. “(We look for) a show that we want to work on, that’s always a plus if we like the show, and we think that the audience is going to like the show.

“It basically is the story of two brothers that are writers back in the Renaissance. They are struggling to kind of come out of the shadow of Shakespeare. So, the brothers decide that they’re going to write a musical.”

Before deciding on the show, Scattergood said he and the Bay High School directing team sat down and took stock of the theatre department’s talents.

“Myself and the directing team kind of sit down and just look at the school and what we have, as far as the students involved in our program,” he said. “We also put out a poll to the students about shows that they would like to possibly do.”

While eager to challenge the theatre department, Scattergood and the rest of the directors wanted to make sure they could pull off the show.

They decided on “Something Rotten” partially due to its challenging choreography, which students have enjoyed in years past, Scattergood said.

The show is a big change from last year’s production of “Newsies,” which featured only one tap dancing number.

“There’s a lot of tap dancing in the show,” Scattergood said. “We’ve really been working (on the choreography).

“As far back as January, we had some day long tap dancing intensive lessons for some of our cast members. You want to pick a show that’s going to challenge the students, which I think this one is.”

Scattergood said he is exceptionally proud of his cast and crew.

With about a month and a half to go until the show’s premier, he said he is eager to see how the production comes together in the final weeks of rehearsal.

“Once we started school back from break in January, we started into rehearsals,” Scattergood said. “We rehearse five days a week with the cast (and) the orchestra is there almost as much.

“It is a giant undertaking. We have, like I said, over 100 kids involved in the show.”

Tickets for “Something Rotten” will go on sale Feb. 16 and are available at bayk12.org.

SUBMITTED Bay High School’s production of ‘Something Rotten’ features over 100students between cast, crew, and orchestra, director Luke Scattergood said.