FRONT & CENTER
“Something Rotten”
is onstage at The Phoenix Theatre Company
P
repare for total musical theater chaos when “Something Rotten!” opens at The Phoenix Theatre Company on March 18. Audiences are in for one wild ride when the conniving but clueless Bottom brothers, not content to let William Shakespeare get all the attention, hatch a plan to cook up the next big stage hit. After an illadvised trip to see Nostradamus’s food-obsessed nephew, they risk everything to produce what they believe will be the show of the future: the musical! Director Kathy Fitzgerald returns to The Phoenix Theatre Company for the first time since appearing as Mama Rose in its 2012 production of “Gypsy.” Kathy got her start in Phoenix in the 1987 production of “Nite Club Confidential” and was one of the Valley’s best30
MARCH/APRIL 2020 | ARIZONA JEWISH LIFE
known talents until Broadway producers took notice and cast her in “Swinging on a Star,” her 1995 Broadway debut. She has since earned her place on Broadway with appearances in roles ranging from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (as Mrs. Gloop), “Oliver!” (as Widow Corney), “Wicked” (as Madame Morrible) and in “The Producers” (as Shirley/Ensemble). Kathy takes her inspiration from some of the greatest names in comedy. As a part of the cast of the original production of “The Producers,” in which she starred for six years, she cites Mel Brooks and Nathan Lane as two of her biggest influences. “Working with Mel Brooks was the single biggest ‘a-ha’ moment in my career,” she says. “You’re in a room with the best of the best. Making Mel laugh is the only option.”
