“After a few wonderful years of jukebox musicals like ‘Jersey Boys’ and ‘Beautiful,’ we are ready to get back to story-first theater,” said Tim Moore.
Moore is producing artistic director for the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts and co-founder, with his wife Laura, of Thingamajig Theatre Company. The company has already launched the 2025 storytelling season with a Shakespearean spoof.
“Something Rotten,” a musical comedy, ran on Broadway from 2015 to 2017. Conceived by two brothers, Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick, it’s a musical about two goofy brothers who compete with the famous Bard in his own time. It’s a contemporary FOMO romp into the London of 1595. Shakespeare’s plays are on the ascendant, so how do two guys get a break?
If you go
WHAT: Pagosa Springs Professional Repertory Theatre Summer Season.
WHEN: Matinees and evening performances through Aug. 30.
WHERE: Pagosa Springs Performing Arts Center, 2313 Eagle Drive, Pagosa Springs.
TICKETS: $44 adults. Packages and discounts available.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.pagosacenter.org or call 731-7469.
In 2015, “Rotten” garnered 10 Tony Award nominations. Broadway actor Christian Borle won a Tony for his role as Shakespeare. The high-energy musical went on tour both here and abroad. Translated into German, Swedish and Korean, to name a few of its spinoff languages, “Rotten” played throughout Europe and the Far East. When COVID-19 interrupted everything, it disappeared for a few years. But in 2024, the show opened again at the Canadian Stratford Festival and London’s West End. Now, “Rotten” plays regularly in regional theaters, including Pagosa Springs.
“Something Rotten” takes its title from a famous line in “Hamlet” about corruption in Denmark. In an opening scene, after seeing the ghost of King Hamlet, Marcellus mutters his suspicions to Horatio sensing moral and political decay among the Danish ruling class. It’s a ripe metaphor for any historical moment that’s out of joint. The Kirkpatrick brothers created siblings Nick and Nigel Bottom, aspiring playwrights, who just can’t get a foothold on the London stage. Anticipating public taste, they try various schemes to challenge Shakespeare’s astounding success.
Expect to hear the Bottom brothers engage in plenty of word play. With that name, who couldn’t resist? Expect to see Shakespeare as a competitor, a soothsayer who is Nostradamus’ nephew, a wife and a girlfriend or two. Throughout, the players fertilize Shakespearean references with contemporary nuggets.
“No need to brush up on your Broadway knowledge or dust off your Complete Works,” Moore said. “It’s the kind of show that rewards the theater nerd and welcomes the theater newbie.”
And, for Durango fans, you get a bonus. Dennis Elkins directs. He’s the former chairman of the Fort Lewis College Drama Department and popular presence on any stage. A decade ago, he directed the memorable Gilbert and Sullivan production of “The Pirates of Penzance.” An Equity actor and director, Elkins rejuvenated the FLC Drama Department then resigned to return to full-time acting, directing and writing. He has appeared in numerous shows at PSCA: “Red,” “Proof,” “Big River” and “A Picasso,” as well as around the country in other productions. He premiered his autobiographical solo show, “box,” in Pagosa before taking it on tour.
“Something Rotten” will run in repertory at PSCA with three other works: Andrew Lippa’s jazz-age musical “The Wild Party”; “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” a musical comedy about a down-list heir to a family fortune who plots an odd solution; and “James and the Giant Peach Jr.,” a Pagosa Summer Kids Camp production.
“These shows bring us back to what we love most: smart, funny, richly theatrical pieces with great characters and even better – writing and memorable music,” Moore said. “They’re a treat to perform and (hopefully), just as fun to watch.”
PSCA is on Eagle Drive, a frontage road on the left as you drive east toward Pagosa Springs. There’s plenty of parking, and it’s about one hour’s drive from Durango.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
