High school show spoofs Shakespeare, musicals

As head stage manager of the spring musical, senior Amanda Dellagicoma has watched “Something Rotten” about 400 times.

She is still catching jokes and references that she didn’t notice before.

The show is “chockful of Shakespeare references and musical references from across the years,” she said. “You’ll notice something new every time.

”And it’s just a fun time,” she added, noting that the show offers a chance to escape from the serious things going on in the world today.

”This is just a comedy that’s not even set in the same century. It’s a very nice light breath of fresh air.”

The musical, which ran on Broadway from 2015 to 2017, is set in 1595 and follows the Bottom brothers, both playwrights who are trying to compete the rock star of the time, William Shakespeare.

Senior Jason Pritchett is playing Shakespeare, who really is a rock star, with concerts and groupies, in “Something Rotten.”

Pritchett, who plans to study theater in college and pursue it as a career, has done plays and musicals during his four years of high school.

This is probably his most fun role, he said, playing the rock star in the first act, then going undercover in disguise in Act II to figure out what rival playwright Nick Bottom is trying to steal from him. “It’s a lot of fun. I kind of get to play two characters.”

Senior Jack Reilly, who plays Nick Bottom, is on stage for most of the show.

While many things go wrong for Nick, he goes to great lengths to avoid admitting that he is not in control “and it gets him in a lot of trouble,” Reilly said.

Nick is the least outrageous character in the show, he noted. “I like to compare him to the one human character in a Muppet movie because somehow all the supporting characters are more outrageous than him.”

”Something Rotten” is one of the funniest shows he’s ever listened to, he said. “I think it’s a lot of fun for anyone, even if you don’t know a lot about Shakespeare.

”There’s so many musical references in there too. Just jammed with them.”

Reilly, who plans to study creative writing at Montclair State University, would like to write comic books. He has done some playwriting.

Junior Kaitlyn Campbell plays Bea, wife of Nick Bottom, who tries to help earn money for the family despite her husband’s opposition and the difficulty of finding work as a woman in the late 1500s.

“If you’re a really big musical theater fan, you’re going to love this show,” she said, citing references to “A Chorus Line,” “Annie” and more.

Dellagicoma, who plans to major in stage management or directing in college next year, said she knew a little about Shakespeare’s work before working on the musical.

“I’m exploring Shakespeare a lot more because of this show,” she said, encouraging other students to come see the show for that reason.

“It puts (Shakespeare) in a context that makes it enjoyable, engaging and more understandable than just reading it in a book. ... Even though we’re doing ‘Omelet,’ not ‘Hamlet,’ the content is there.”

The show has a cast of 33 and a crew of about 20.

Auditions were in early December, and daily rehearsals after school started soon after that.

Pritchett acknowledged that doing a show is a big time commitment. What makes it worthwhile is the people you meet, he said.

“Of course, performing is fun. ... But the group of people that you become a family with ... . You just kind of find a new family within the school. You have a place to go ... it’s a place where you get to be you, you get to have fun, you get to learn how to do new things. It’s just an awesome experience.”