‘Something Rotten’ Broadway musical now at Canyon Theatre Guild

More than 20 years ago, writing trio John O’Farrell, Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick had the idea: What would it be like to be a rival playwright in the time of Shakespeare? Karey Kirkpatrick says, “[We would say,] ‘That would be funny. We should write that someday,’ Then we would go back to our own careers. And then we’d get back together and go, ‘Hey, I thought of something else. What if ...’”

In 2015, their idea finally took center stage at Broadway’s St. James Theatre. With celebrated performers Brian d’Arcy James and Christian Borle leading the cast, the new musicalcomedy was a hit, earning 10 Tony nominations – including Best Musical and a Best Featured Actor win for Borle. Now, this hysterical Musical Comedy has finally come to Newhall.

The year is 1595. Shakespeare is a rock star. A rival acting troupe, led by Nick and Nigel Bottom, are starving because they can’t compete with “The Bard.” They need something new! Exciting! Never before done. What if they invented THE MUSICAL to compete with William Shakespeare? Things do not go as planned. The result? The funniest musical comedy ever written.

CTG Executive and Artistic Director TimBen Boydston heads this production as the director. He says, “One of the best forms of catharsis is laughter, which brings us to the point of this show. Yes, it is homage to the great William Shakespeare and the development of a new kind of theater, the musical, but first and foremost, it is a comedy. I thought that this would be a very good time for some laughter with all of the actual tragedy that we have seen recently; laughter would be the best medicine.”

“Something Rotten!” runs every weekend until its scheduled closing on June 18. Tickets can be reserved online at canyontheatre.org or by calling the box office at 661-799-2702.