Tag: Weston Drama Workshop’

Strong Performances Buoy Weston Drama Workshop’s Energetic ‘Something Rotten’

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Cast of Weston Drama Workshop’s ‘Something Rotten’

‘Something Rotten!’ – Book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell; Music and Lyrics by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick; Directed by Chris Brindley; Music Direction by Bethany Aiken; Choreography by Caroline Workman. Presented by the Weston Drama Workshop. Show closed 7/30.

by Mike Hoban

Weston Drama Workshop (WDW) closed their 2022 summer program with a bang, presenting a high-energy, full blown production (40+ performers) of Something Rotten, the 2015 Broadway musical featuring fictional Shakespeare contemporaries Nick and Nigel Bottom, whose careers are going nowhere in the shadow of the rockstar Bard. The production was given a monumental boost by a number of terrific performances by the leading players, as well as a handful of thoroughly entertaining BIG production numbers crafted by director Chris Brindley and choreographer Caroline Workman. Something Rotten successfully combines those production numbers with a Monty Python-esque premise that delivers what most musical comedies only aspire to – a welcome blast of creativity – when so many modern musicals lazily rely on recycling hit movies (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark– really?)

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NEWSIES

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Weston Drama Workshop’s 56th season starts off with a bang with “Newsies” by Walt Disney. This group is a Youth Repertory Theater and the 56th season is dedicated to Andrew Ramsey who was a member of this group and sadly passed away last July 25. Disney’s “Newsies” is  based on the 1992 Disney film and is inspired by the real-life “Newsboy Strike of 1899,” when Newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and run away newsies on a two- week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers. The show has music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and a book by Harvey Fierstein. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011 and made its Broadway debut on March 29, 2012 where it ran for over 1005 performances closing August 24, 2014 before touring the country from then until October 2, 2016. The choreography in the musical is astounding, entertaining and energetic from start to finish. Director Chris Brindley, the choreographer Emily Craver with music director Bethany Aiken leading a splendid 9 piece orchestra with their combined expertise wins these 51 young performers a standing ovation.

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