Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to another episode of The Open Mic Podcast! With your host Tom Hirst, brought to you by Richland Source and Newsroom After Hours!
This week we have Ryan Citrino - Nick Bottom and Leah Gesouras - Beatrice Bottom (Nick's wife), two members from the cast of Something Rotten! The next great production being performed at Mansfield's own legendary Renaissance Theatre!Â
Something Rotten! opened on Broadway in 2015 and was nominated for 10 Tony-awards. It's been described as "if Mel Brooks wrote Hamilton."
The Story:
Something Rotten takes place in 1595 London, England. The Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel are trying to find success by writing plays, but are outshined by the rock-star playwright of the Renaissance, William Shakespeare. Desperate to find success Nick gets help from a soothsayer for the next big hit when he prophesies a musical. The Bottom brothers get to work creating the first musical, complete with song and dance.
I had a blast chatting with Ryan and Leah! They have both had quite the fascinating life in theatre, with lots of incredibly colorful experiences along the way! This episode was a real treat for me because I know nothing about the musical play/theatre world. I got the chance to ask a lot of questions that I've always wanted to inquire about that world. There are a lot of interesting similarities between the theatre world and the traditional band world that I exist in normally. As well as a lot of things that I had never considered that they have to think about on a regular basis while preparing for the roles that they will be preforming as.Â
It sounds to me that this musical will be right up my alley, heavy comedic emphasis with some tugging on your heart strings, down on their luck, under-dog character moments. I'm excited to go see it and I hope you all will too!Â
Musicals are cool, I don't care what you think. If you disagree you're wrong.Â
