By Shari Barrett
Something Rotten! with Music & Lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, and Book by John O’Farrell & Karey Kirkpatrick premiered on Broadway in 2015 and was nominated for ten Tony Awards, including Best New Musical. Torrance Theatre Company is presenting the hit musical comedy at the Armstrong Theater, located at 3330 Civic Center Drive in Torrance through August 17, 2025 as the first installment of its 2025-2026 season, kicking off the company’s 26th anniversary.
Directed with great enthusiasm and pure joy for the genre by Cary Jordahl, President of the Friends of Torrance Theatre Company, Something Rotten! features cleverly entertaining choreography by Sjaan Trowbridge with Bradley Hampton as music and vocal director who conducts an incredibly talented live sixteen-piece orchestra.
The production opens with a wandering Minstrel (Amber Florin) welcoming us to the Renaissance where illness and poverty overwhelm everyone with only theatre and art to ease their pain. Set in the 1590s, brothers Nick Bottom (the always incredible, unstoppable entertainer Christopher Tiernan) and Nigel (Bryan Eid as his talented but struggling-to-succeed brother) who are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as “The Bard” (flashy Allen Barstow as the prolific Shakespeare). All three actors command attention in the best way possible throughout the show – to inspire the entire ensemble to reach for the stars every moment onstage.
Soon the town’s local soothsayer, Nostradamus (Ryan Johnson) arrives and foretells the future of theatre involves singing, dancing, and acting at the same time, something The Bard does not do. Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first musical, calling it “Omelette.” And that’s by no means the only reference to The Bard’s plays thanks to the clever script by John O’Farrell & Karey Kirkpatrick, and I dare you to count all the references to other musicals and plays mentioned as the trio diligently work to create their first successful production. But then every character in the show plays along with the puns, with each reference creating roars of laughter or even a few well-deserved groans!
Nick’s wife Bea (songstress Abby Carlson) attempts to add to the family coffers by passing herself off as a man to earn enough money to keep food on their table and a roof over their heads. As a real feminist, Bea’s self-confidence propels her to succeed on the stage as well in in her husband’s heart. Portia (effervescent Nico Fisher), is the daughter of the local Puritan leader Brother Jeremiah (Kyle Wilson) who may never be convinced to allow her to be with such a “heathen” man of the theatre. Which, of course, drives her to Nigel even more.
But amidst the scandalous excitement of Omelette’s opening night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top requires “To Thine Own Self Be True,” while the entire ensemble explodes singing “Make an Omelette” which feature s Rio Colino, Daniel Scipio, and Bradley Weaver as a trio of dancing chefs who dance up a storm wielding frying pans! Shylock (Perry Shields) pops in as the producer of “Omelette” while acting appropriately as the town’s moneylender using frequent Yiddish expressions to emphasize his perceived status in town. Kudos to the entire ensemble and technical team for their cooperative efforts to bring this incredibly funny and fun musical to the stage.
Something Rotten! continues Thursday, August 14 at 7 p.m. (includes a Q & A with cast and team); Friday, August 15 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, August 16 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and closes Sunday, August 17 at 2 p.m. at the Armstrong Theater at 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance 90503. Please note this show is rated PG-13 and contains kissing, sexual innuendo, some swearing, and a dangerous amount of iambic pentameter! For tickets, visit TorranceTheatreCompany.com or call the Armstrong Theater box office at 310-781-7171.
The Torrance Theatre Company is a program of the Cultural Services Division of the Torrance Community Services Department www.TorranceCA.Gov and sponsored in part by Friends of Torrance Theatre Company.
The World Premiere of Achilles in Arcadia by Chris Collins has opened at the Skylight Theatre in Los Feliz, directed by Kiff Scholl. Set in a Chinese restaurant in Arcadia, a prosperous community in the San Gabriel Valley with a population is 59% Asian-American, the action centers around George (Krit McClean), a student filmmaker of mixed Chinese and Anglo parentage who has taken over the restaurant to rehearse a scene for a short film he is making for his class project at Pasadena City College.
His actors include his younger sister Rose (Yulia Belyaeva) as his ingenue; his Chinese-American girlfriend Lilly (Devyn Kohl, the most effective actor in the play), and his Anglo best friend Pat (Timothy Willard), a combat buddy of George in the Afghanistan conflict with both having war wounds, both physically and emotionally, to show for it.
The story takes place soon after George’s and Rose’s mother has died. Their Aunt Amy (Gloria Tsai), a Chinese immigrant, is the executor of her sister’s estate and has moved into the family home, a point of contention with George who sees the house as the seat of his family’s generational wealth. And when his long-lost father Chuck (Jeff LeBeau), who abandoned the family a decade earlier turns up in the restaurant, it throws a wrench into George’s plans after family secrets are revealed.
A pivotal property of the film is a prop gun. During rehearsals and family chatter, it frequently passes from hand to hand among the players, raising tension to the max since prop guns don’t always make for good outcomes. Just ask Alec Baldwin…
As the 3-scene, one-act play proceeds, questions abound. Will George complete his film? Is it really a blueprint for his planned revenge? Against whom? What hidden sins does the family conceal? Who will ultimately control the family homestead? And who uses the prop gun to his own detriment?
Like many world premiere plays, Achilles in Arcadia needs major tightening to clarify all the background stories to keep the characters more clearly defined and the story moving along at a faster pace. Much of the over-the-top acting needs to be toned down to allow for more realistic characters to grab our attention and interest in what happens to them. Technical credits are highlighted by Joyce Hutter’s realistic set design of the family’s Chinese restaurant.
Achilles in Arcadia is produced by Frier McCollister for Black Bough Productions, presented as a visiting production at Skylight Theatre, 1816 N. Vermont Avenue, Hollywood 90027. Regular performances continue Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., through Sunday, September 21. Dark on Labor Day weekend, August 29 through August 31. Tickets run $20 on Fridays. $25 on Saturdays and Sundays, with students and seniors $15 (at the door only). Purchase tickets online at http://achillesinarcadia.com or call the box office at (213) 761-7061.
