Category: Theatre

September 5, 2018

Creating a big production number

Night after night on Broadway, the fifth number in the hit show Something Rotten! earns an early standing ovation. It’s called “A Musical”, sung by unreliable soothsayer Thomas Nostradamus as he explains to baffled Elizabethan-era writer Nick Bottom what the...

September 5, 2018

Q&A with “Something Rotten!” associate director Steve Bebout

Q – Can you take me back to when you started working on the big show-stopping number “A Musical”? A – I work with Casey [Nicholaw, director & choreographer], and he has an associate choreographer John MacInnis as well. And...

September 4, 2018

Q&A with “Something Rotten!” director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw

Q – What made you decide to say yes to Something Rotten!? Was it because of Kevin McCollum’s [producer] involvement and the potential you saw in the material? A – It sort of started with Kevin, just because of our...

September 4, 2018

Q&A with “Something Rotten!’s” Karey Kirkpatrick (Book, Music & Lyrics) and John O’Farrell (Book)

Q – Can you talk about the initial idea/concept? K – I think it was a series of conversations that happened over a series of meetings, Christmas dinners, since Wayne [Kirkpatrick, Karey’s brother] and I don’t live in the same town. We...

September 4, 2018

Q&A with “Something Rotten!” music and lyricist Wayne Kirkpatrick

Q – You and Karey [Kirkpatrick, Wayne’s brother] had this initial idea 20 years ago. Can you remember how it surfaced? A – We wish we could. It was such an organic process. We were in musical theater in high...

September 4, 2018

Creating an original musical in “Something Rotten!”

Something Rotten!, the Tony Award-nominated show that’s touring the country this season, is an increasing rarity among Broadway musicals: it’s a completely original work not based on a movie, play, book or other source material. The show originated from an...

September 4, 2018

The silly songs of “Something Rotten!”

Something Rotten! is brimming with countless references from some of the most beloved modern musicals throughout history. Jazz hands out! Below is a list of just some of our favorites from the show-stopping number “A Musical”. “Some musicals have no...

September 4, 2018

Creating the completely new Broadway musical “Something Rotten!”

Most Broadway newcomers don’t get their first show produced by Tony Award-winner Kevin McCollum, and they don’t typically land Tony-winner Casey Nicholaw as their director-choreographer. But brothers Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick and British comedy writer John O’Farrell, the creators of...

August 27, 2018

The world of “Something Rotten!”

The Renaissance Something Rotten! transports today’s audiences from the seats of a Broadway house across the Atlantic and back through the history book pages to Renaissance England. But what is the Renaissance, and how did it change England in the...

January 19, 2018

“Freedom Riders” family matinee explores one of the most critical chapters of the civil rights movement

Freedom Riders is the newest play from Mad River Theater Works. It explores valiant and courageous personalities behind one of the most critical chapters in the history of the civil rights movement, the freedom riders.

ABOUT THE SHOW Freedom Riders is the newest play from Mad River Theater Works. It explores valiant and courageous personalities behind one of the most critical chapters in the history of the civil rights movement, the freedom riders. The play demonstrates the...

February 22, 2017

‘Taj Express’ brings Bollywood to Elliott Hall March 22

The dazzling sights and sounds will take you on a live cinematic journey of India—evoking Bollywood’s rollicking energy and centuries of Indian culture.

A kaleidoscopic, high-energy fusion of film, dance, and music, Taj Express brings the colorful costumes and boisterous beats of Bollywood to life before your eyes. Having entertained billions worldwide for decades, India’s Bollywood film industry is among the most prolific and profitable...

February 17, 2017

How to Get Power

WHAT I BELIEVE IS ALWAYS TRUE ABOUT POWER IS THAT POWER ALWAYS REVEALS. —Robert Caro, Lyndon Baines Johnson biographer This essay by Michael J. Kramer was originally published by Purdue Convocations in Spring 2016. Lyndon Baines Johnson was an imposing man....