West End Wilma Award Winner Marisha Wallace joins the UK premiere of award-winning comedy musical Something Rotten!
The side-splitting mash-up of song, dance and Elizabethan absurdity that tells the story behind the creation of the world’s very first musical, will open at the Manchester Opera House from 16 June to 19 July 2026, ahead of a West End run.
Actress and singer Marisha Wallace, acclaimed for her performances in shows including Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!, Waitress and Dreamgirls, will star as the musical’s leading lady Bea, having performed in Something Rotten! on Broadway before moving to UK.
She said: “I’m beyond thrilled to have been cast in the UK premiere of Something Rotten! It was pure joy to be a part of this hilarious musical on Broadway a decade ago – so now, to be joining this incredible company for the first time that UK audiences will get to see it, is a full-circle moment in the best way. I can’t wait to dive back in!”
Wallace joins the previously announced comedy, TV and musical theatre icon Jason Manford (Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Nick Bottom and star of stage and screen Richard Fleeshman (Company, Ghost the Musical, Legally Blonde The Musical, Coronation Street) as William Shakespeare.
The full cast is to be announced.
The ‘90s are back! The 1590s, that is. Brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but remain stuck in the shadow of that pompous Renaissance rockstar Will Shakespeare. When a quirky soothsayer foretells an outlandish future for theatre – full of acting, singing and dancing all at the same time – Nick and Nigel set out to write this strange new creation called A MUSICAL! But amidst the scandalous excitement of Opening Night, the Bottom Brothers discover that reaching the top means being true to thine own self… and all that jazz.
Created by the award-winning team behind Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical: Grammy award-winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick (Change the World, Every Heartbeat), screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run, Over the Hedge, James and the Giant Peach) and best-selling author and comedy scriptwriter John O’Farrell (Spitting Image, Have I Got News for You, Just For One Day), Something Rotten! was the toast of Broadway where it received 10 Tony Award nominations.
This new production, which follows the acclaimed 2023 WhatsOnStage Award-winning concert version, is directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson (Merrily We Roll Along, Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York).
