At the start of the pandemic, some writers underline that Shakespeare wrote one of his most acclaimed plays, King Lear, in the midst of a plague. This has led to speculation about what brilliant and landmark work of art from the era would emerge from our modern plague. For the writers, this was an unnecessary source of additional pressure – in the midst of COVID, wasn’t surviving day to day quite an achievement? I haven’t made a misguided attempt to write my next great American novel, but from a consumer perspective it’s okay if we don’t get a coronavirus era King Lear. Right now, escapist, joyful, and well-designed entertainment is more than enough. I need to quote a word from Something rotten!who now performs at the Pioneer Theater Company – “something more relaxing and less taxing on the brain”.

A crowd-proud love letter to a crowd-proud art form, Something rotten! imagines a ridiculous alternate origin story to the classic musical. In 1590s England, William Shakespeare (Matthew Hydzik) is the most famous of the Renaissance playwrights, leaving other writers to flounder in his shadow. Brothers Nick (Matt Farcher) and Nigel Bottom (Daniel Plimpton), who lead a struggling theater group, must quickly produce a hit play before they lose their patronage. As Nick’s ahead-of-her-time wife, Bea (Galyana Castillo), seeks to find work and lighten the family’s financial burdens, Nick seeks advice from the soothsayer Nostradamus (Robert Anthony Jones) about his next play. Nostradamus has an uneven view of the future of theater – the Broadway musical. Although the Elizabethans are initially confused by the concept, Nick and Nigel go ahead, believing this is their perfect chance to beat Shakespeare. Meanwhile, Nigel strikes up a passionate romance with Portia (Lexi Rabadi), the daughter of a Puritan (Kevin B. McGlynn) who opposes all theater and poetry.

If it’s not already clear, at least 80% of the plot is just an excuse for endless puns and references to both Shakespeare and popular musicals – some obvious, some niche and others in between. Something rotten! has an approach to comedy that involves throwing everything at the wall. The jokes are everywhere, from really clever to silly and funny to just plain stupid – the cast, however, fully commits to the absurdity and, sometimes by force of will, most bits land.

The universally strong cast, clearly having a lot of fun with the material, makes the material so successful. Farcher, a strong singer and dancer in a cast full of them, makes Nick relatable and likeable even when the Bottom brother spends much of the room acting like, well, an ass. As the sensitive and talented poet of the sibling duo, Plimpton is utterly charming, providing just enough human-sized emotion to ground the ridiculous farce. Although her character is underused at times, Castillo is also strong-willed, completely selling her solo song “Right Hand Man” and providing a needed female perspective. (In Shakespeare’s lifetime, women weren’t allowed onstage, even to play female characters.) Hydzik has perhaps the most difficult task of all, in part because the role’s author, Christian Borle, left a signature mark and won a Tony Award for the show partly and partly because the show’s glamorous, leather-clad Shakespeare requires rock-star charisma. Luckily, Hydzik makes his own mark as the self-absorbed charming who gets under Nick’s skin.

Director and choreographer Karen Azenberg directs the talented ensemble, which effectively parodies musicals while deftly interpreting some classic musical trademarks, from energetic tap-dancing breaks to Fosse-style jazz hands to driving chorus lines. In an inspired twist, an inappropriate Black Death song includes subtle nods to our current deadly plague. Set designer George Maxwell constructs a storybook version of Elizabethan England that fits perfectly with the musical’s wacky alternate reality. Unfortunately, whether it was the sound design or the diction of the performers, some of the music and dialogue could be difficult to hear. I knew about the upcoming soundtrack, but newcomers may miss a lot of the show’s fast-paced best jokes.

The score, by Karey and Wayne Patrick, fills fairly conventional Broadway pop compositions to the brim with clever jokes and lines. In “A Musical,” an eight-minute song and the climax of the play, Nostradamus predicts the entire future of musical theater. Jones’ brash performance, more is more, is exactly what the musical calls for – he steals the show every time he’s on stage. With captions to a long list of musical favourites, from Wretched for A chorus line for To rent, the song captures the tone of the musical: a conscious yet loving send-off of the art form, aimed at enthusiasts. In these moments, Something rotten! both parody and offer the simple pleasures of the genre.

Something rotten! will be at the Pioneer Theater Company until March 12. For tickets and more information, visit their website. Learn more about Salt Lake City Theater.