Full company set for Something Rotten! concert premiere

The complete casting has been revealed for the hit Broadway musical comedy Something Rotten!, which will have its UK concert premiere this summer.

The show, created by Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run), John O’Farrell (Just For One Day), and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick (Mrs Doubtfire), follows the story of Renaissance writers Nick and Nigel Bottom as they seek to outshine Shakespeare by writing the world’s first musical.

Originally opened on Broadway at the St James Theatre in 2015, the piece received several Best Musical nominations, and ten Tony Award nominations. A UK run in Birmingham, originally planned for 2020, was postponed by the pandemic, and the show has never been seen professionally on these shores.

All that is about to change – the piece will now play for three shows at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Monday 5 August and Tuesday 6 August.

Directed by Tim Jackson (Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)), the show will star Jason Manford (The Producers) as Nick Bottom, Gary Wilmot (Anything Goes, The Artist) as Nostradamus, Richard Fleeshman (Company, Urinetown) as Shakespeare, Marisha Wallace (Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!) as Bea, Evelyn Hoskins (Waitress, Spring Awakening) as Portia, Cassius Hackforth (For Tonight, From Here to Eternity) as Nigel Bottom, Steve Furst (Oliver!, Matilda) as Shylock, Ashley Samuels (Hairspray, The Book Of Mormon) as Troubadour, Cameron Blakely (Newsies, Mrs Doubtfire) as Brother Jeremiah and Jenna Boyd (Come From Away, The Wind in the Willows) as Lady Croydon.

Completing the cast will be Evonnee Bentley-Holder, Jordan Cunningham, Luke Field-Wright, Ru Fisher, Matthew Koon, Eddie Manning, Lisa Mathieson, Katharine Pearson and Ella Redhead, who make up the ensemble.

Choreography is by Jackson and Claira Vaughan, sound by Tom Marshall and Sebastian Frost, lighting by Jamie Platt, set and costume by Rebecca Brower, production management by Pete Kramer, company and stage management by Peter Barnett and casting consultancy by Sarah Jane Price.

The full Broadway score will be performed by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Freddie Tapner (Love Never Dies). It is produced by Fourth Wall Live, JAS Theatricals, and the London Musical Theatre Orchestra in association with Alchemation.

Fourth Wall Live and the London Musical Theatre Orchestra produced the WhatsOnStage Award-winning concert of Love Never Dies.

Tickets for Something Rotten! in Concert are on sale now.