The Stratford Festival Report: Something Rotten! and La Cage aux Folles extended to mid-November

July 18, 2024…There was some great news coming from the Stratford Festival! Both of their acclaimed musicals – Something Rotten! and La Cage aux Folles – are being extended to mid-November. 

Something Rotten!, the show that launched the Festival’s 2024 season in April, is being hailed by critics (including myself: read my review here) and audiences as one of the best musicals ever.

Helmed by director-choreographer Donna Feore (Stratford’s Chicago; Billy Elliot the Musical) with music director Laura Burton (Stratford’s You Can’t Stop the Beat), Something Rotten! is a hilarious, laugh-a-minute musical, filled with dazzling dance numbers and unforgettable songs, including “God, I Hate Shakespeare,” “Hard to Be the Bard” and “Welcome to the Renaissance.” 

It follows a pair of discouraged playwrights, Nick and Nigel Bottom – played superbly by Mark Uhre (Broadway’s Les Misérables; Grand’s Seeds of Self) and Henry Firmston (Stratford’s Spamalot) – as they try to find a way to succeed in the theatre when their main competitor is the rock star William Shakespeare, played wonderfully by Jeff Lillico (Soulpepper/SignatureNYC’s Of Human Bondage). When Nick consults the soothsayer, Thomas Nostradamus, played deviously well by Dan Chameroy (Stratford’s Chicago), he sets out on a path to develop the world’s first musical, and true musical hilarity ensues.

The production also features Starr Domingue (Stratford’s Little Shop of Horrors) as Bea, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah (Stratford’s A Wrinkle in Time) as Lady Clapham, Steve Ross (Stratford’s Love’s Labour’s Lost) as Shylock and Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane (Stratford’s Rent) as Portia. 

Each and every performance is producing super-fans, who are returning time and again, asserting that Something Rotten! is really something fantastic. Less than halfway into the run, more than 4,000 people have returned to see the show for a second time – some more than twice!

 “It’s pure unadulterated joy watching this production deliver world-class entertainment with an endless supply of laughs and spectacular song-and-dance numbers, one that I would happily return to again and again. Here’s to hoping this production finds a life beyond the Stratford Festival. Because these Bottom brothers have certainly found their way to be on top of that silly scene-stealin’ Shakespeare. Rightfully so.” – Frontmezzjunkies

Over at the Avon Theatre, the musical La Cage aux Folles has earned its extension, as it packs houses and makes headlines with a dazzling production, which at its heart is a touching family story about acceptance in a politically divided world.

It features the wonderful Sean Arbuckle (Stratford’s Casey and Diana), as Georges, the manager of a drag club in St. Tropez, and the incredible Steve Ross (Stratford’s Something Rotten!) as Albin, his life partner and the club’s star performer. Georges agrees to “play it straight” to meet the ultra-conservative parents of their son’s new fiancé, while Albin is shocked to discover that he is being sidelined. The ensuing clash unravels truth and consequences with heartwarming grace – and fabulous drag performances!

The production is directed by Thom Allison (Stratford’s Rent) and choreographed by Cameron Carver (Stratford’s Richard II) with music director Franklin Brasz (Stratford’s Chicago. It features Juan Chioran (Stratford’s Something Rotten!) as Edouard Dindon, James Daly (Off-Broadway’s Dracula – A Comedy of Terrors) as Jean-Michel, Sara Jeanne Hosie (Musical Stage’s The Wild Party) as Dindon’s wife, Marie, Starr Domingue (Stratford’s Something Rotten!) as Jacqueline, and Heather Kosik (Toronto’s Chris, Mrs) as Anne.

The production features the unforgettable anthem “I Am What I Am,” sung by Steve Ross in what many are calling the performance of a lifetime, as he brings the character of Albin to vivid life: by day, a caring, if dramatic, spouse and parent, by night a star performer, the headliner of La Cage aux Folles, home of Les Cagelles, played electrically by Eric Abel (Stratford’s Frankenstein Revived), George Absi (Toronto’s Chris, Mrs), David Ball (Shaw’s Sweeney Todd), Josh Doig (Stratford’s Spamalot), Jordan Goodridge (Drayton’s The Music Man), and David Andrew Reid (Shaw’s Brigadoon). These drag performers entertain in supreme style, with opulent costumes and sensational hair and makeup. Their cabaret-style performances range from sexy and sultry to zany and outrageous. The show is a perfect combination of guts and glitter – with a whole lot of love thrown in. 

“With all that glamorous glitter and high kicks by men in heels, those fiendishly fun flashy numbers, and all those wild laughs delivered by a pained pseudo-mom (and ourselves), La Cage Aux Folles still rings engagingly honest, touchingly endearing, and endlessly entertaining as it plays itself out, beautifully and hilariously, on the Stratford Festival stage. I’m not sure what the old-time festival audiences will think of it all, but, as directed by Thom Allison with care and a grand eye for fun and all those complex feelings, it would take one cold dark heart to not walk out of Stratford’s Avon Theatre singing those songs and feeling completely invigorated by their visit to La Cage Aux Folles. The cabaret might be the pride of Saint Tropez, but this revival has to now be one of the joys of Stratford. It truly is the best of times in this small Ontario town, with this show and that other hilariously well-done musical, Something Rotten!, together, walking down Ontario Street arm in arm, feeling as handsome and tall as a Festival could.”

Tickets for the additional performances listed below go on sale Friday, July 19, and are available at www.stratfordfestival.ca or by calling the box office at 1.800.567.1600. Tickets are still available for current performances.

SOMETHING ROTTEN! EXTENSION DATES:

Wednesday, October 30 at 2 p.m.

Thursday, October 31 at 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 2 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 3 at 2 p.m.

Tuesday, November 5 at 2 p.m.

Wednesday, November 6 at 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 9 at 2 p.m.

Sunday, November 10 at 2 p.m.

Wednesday, November 13 at 2 p.m.

Thursday, November 14 at 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 16 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 18 at 2 p.m.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES EXTENSION DATES:

Tuesday, October 29 at 2 p.m.

Friday, November 1 at 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 2 at 2 p.m.

Thursday, November 7 at 2 p.m.

Friday, November 8 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, November 9 at 8 p.m.

Tuesday, November 12 at 2 p.m.

Friday, November 15 at 2 p.m.

Saturday, November 16 at 2 p.m.