Waterfront Theatre School in rehearsal for Something Rotten!
What happens when the competition gets desperate enough to invent the musical? That is the gloriously cheeky, tap-dancing question posed by Something Rotten!, a love letter to the stage that arrives at the Artscape Arena this July.
Performed by the exceptionally talented students of the Waterfront Theatre School, this bold, brash, and knowingly silly production promises an explosion of chaos, spectacle, and rhyming couplets that both roasts and toasts the finest traditions of musical theatre.
Behind the production is the powerhouse creative team of director Paul Griffiths and choreographer Ursula Lubbe, the dynamic duo who previously dazzled Cape Town audiences with their consecutive sold-out hits, Heathers: The Musical and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Joining them to complete the triumvirate is Thinus Viljoen, who makes his debut as musical director for the school. In a fitting twist of fate, Viljoen reveals that the very first song he performed during his own time as a student at the institution was from this exact show, bringing his artistic journey delightfully full circle.
Written by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, with music and lyrics by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick, the original Broadway production scooped ten Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. Yet beneath the glitter, the laughter, and the wonderfully irreverent humour of this Renaissance-set farce, lies a remarkably contemporary and deceptively simple question: what happens when we spend so much time trying to copy others that we forget who we truly are?
