By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times
JJ Vavrik
“Something Rotten” is a Tony Award-nominated musical written by brothers Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick. It was a situation where two brothers wrote a musical about two brothers writing a musical.
The hilarious comedy is running now through February 23 at the Candlelight Dinner Theatre (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware, www.candlelighttheatredelaware.org).
The show opened on Broadway in 2015 at the St. James Theatre and closed in January 2017 after 742 performances. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won one (for Christian Borle as Best Featured Actor in a Musical).
Despite the accolades, the show didn’t fare quite as well on the road.
It had a brief National Tour in 2018 that touched down at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.
The show also launched a Non-Equity National Tour beginning in September 2018. That tour visited the area for a run at the Playhouse Theatre in Wilmington in 2019.
The production at the Candlelight features JJ Vavrik as Nick Bottom, Kaedon Knight as Shakespeare, Nigel Grant, Jr. as Nigel Bottom, Alexa Wilder as Bea and Malik Muhammad as Nostradamus.
“I was familiar with this show because my brother Chris Monaco played the same role in a production at the Players Club of Swarthmore,” said Vavrik, during a phone interview Wednesday from his home in Wallingford.
“I also listened to the soundtrack a lot. This was a role that was on my bucket list.
“I think having a show with a reduced audience familiarity was a benefit. At Candlelight, the actors in the show line up in the lobby after the show to greet the audience members as they leave.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say – ‘I didn’t know ‘Something Rotten’ before and now it’s one of my favorites.’ It’s a really fun way to inject joy into people’s lives.
“It’s funnier than a lot of shows. For a stupid comedy, it’s put together really well. For the audience, it’s a fun way to sort the pieces of the puzzle together with all the different references.”
The show includes references to numerous musicals.
For example, during the song “A Musical,” Nostradamus and the chorus men don sailor hats, which harkens to several nautical-themed musicals, including “South Pacific,” “Anything Goes,”, “On the Town” and “Dames at Sea.”
When Nostradamus sings the first “It’s a musical,” the melody is similar to one from the song “Wonderful” from the hit musical “Wicked.” “Fascinating Rhythm” is a song from “Lady, Be Good.”
Counting “5-6-7-8” is a way of starting dances. It may also be a reference to “I Hope I Get It” from “A Chorus Line.” The line “A true, blue, new musical” is backed by the tune of “All of That Jazz” from “Chicago.”
However, even long-time Broadway fans could watch four or five performances and still not pick up on all the musical and lyrical references in “Something Rotten.”
Set in 1595, the story follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find success in the theatrical world, as they compete with the wild popularity of their contemporary William Shakespeare.
The ultra-humorous comedy tells the story of the Bottom brothers – two siblings who are desperate to write their own hit play while the “rock star” Shakespeare keeps getting all the hits.
When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first musical.
Vavrik, who shines in the role of Nick, is a Candlelight veteran. He has performed in five shows at the comfortable dinner theater including “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Mamma Mia!,” and “Sweet Charity.”
“Back in 2022, a friend of mine, Will Daniels, dragged me along to aa show at Candlelight,” said Vavrik, an alumnus of Strath Haven High who attended Temple University and graduated in 2019 with a degree in theatre with a concentration in musicals and acting.
“Also, the director there at Candlelight was Peter Reynolds, and I knew him from when I was a student, and he was a professor at Temple.”
Reynolds is currently Head of Musical Theater for the Department of Theater at Temple University and Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Mauckingbird Theater Co.
In “Something Rotten,” Vavrik has found ways to relate to Nick Bottoms.
“For me as a person, I’ve always been a person who puts his head down and works through the problem,” said Vavrik, who also has his own home repair business (www.jjvavrik.com).
“Nick is a writer without success, but he keeps pushing. He wants to write a hit — to be a playwright and to do something new in theater.
“I look at him as a character whose heart is beating the right way.”
Tickets, which include dinner and show, are $70.50 for adults and $35 for children (ages 4-12).
Last week, it was time for Lunar New Year in many Asian countries – time to celebrate the “Year of the Snake.”
This weekend, it’s time for topflight blues performances in the Philly area – time to celebrate the “Weekend of the Alligator.”
Shemekia Copeland
This weekend, two of Alligator’s top artists will have shows in the area — Shemekia Copeland on February 7 and Toronzo Cannon on February 8.
Alligator Records was founded in 1971 in Chicago by Bruce Iglauer. Since then, the label has released more than 250 blues and blues/rock albums.
Alligator has become one of the preeminent blues labels in the country. It has received more than 50 Grammy nominations and four wins — the first in 1982.
The long list of blues great on Alligator Records includes Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite, Selwyn Birchwood, Roomful of Blues, Tinsley Ellis, Coco Montoya, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Marcia Ball, Janiva Magnes – and, of course, Copeland and Cannon.
On Friday night, Copeland will celebrate the release of her powerful three-time GRAMMY-nominated Alligator Records album, “Blame It On Eve,” with a live performance at Penn Live Arts’ at Annenberg Center – Zellerbach Theatre (3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, www.pennlivearts.org).
“Blame It On Eve” earned Copeland the GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album. For the title track, she received nominations for Best American Roots Performance and for Best American Roots Song (written by John Hahn and Will Kimbrough). She now has a total of eight GRAMMY nominations.
“Blame It On Eve” was recorded in Nashville and produced by instrumentalist/songwriter Will Kimbrough (who also produced her previous three albums). The songs tackle subjects as important as a woman’s right to choose and climate change but also leave space for Copeland to have fun and unwind.
Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. She is beloved and honored worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humor of her revelatory songs, as well as for her winning, engaging personality.
Copeland was born in Harlem, New York on April 10, 1979, and came to her singing career naturally. Her bluesman father (the late Johnny Clyde Copeland) recognized his daughter’s talent early on.
He always encouraged her to sing at home and even brought her on stage to sing at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club when she was just eight. At that time Copeland’s embarrassment outweighed her desire to sing.
But when she was 15, and her father’s health began to slow him down, she received the calling. At 16, Copeland joined her father on his tours after he was diagnosed with a degenerative heart condition. Soon enough Copeland was opening, and sometimes even stealing her father’s shows.
Copeland stepped out of her father’s shadow in 1998 with her groundbreaking debut CD “Turn The Heat Up,” which was recorded when she was only 18.
From her debut through 2005’s “The Soul Truth,” Copeland earned eight Blues Music Awards and a host of Living Blues Awards. 2000’s “Wicked” received the first of her four Grammy nominations.
After two successful releases on Telarc (including 2012’s Grammy-nominated “33 1/3”), Copeland returned to Alligator Records in 2015 with the Grammy-nominated, Blues Music Award-winning “Outskirts Of Love,” which melded blues with more rootsy, Americana sounds.
MOJO magazine named “America’s Child” the #1 blues release of 2018. It won both the Blues Music Award and the Living Blues Award for Album Of The Year. Copeland’s groundbreaking 2020 release “Uncivil War” was named the 2020 Blues Album Of The Year by DownBeat, MOJO and Living Blues magazines.
Copeland has performed thousands of gigs at clubs, festivals and concert halls all over the world, and has appeared in films, on national television, NPR, and has been the subject of major feature stories in hundreds of magazines, newspapers and internet publications.
She’s sung with Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, Dr. John, James Cotton and many others, and has shared a bill with The Rolling Stones. She entertained U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait in 2008.
In 2012, she performed with B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Buddy Guy, Trombone Shorty, Gary Clark, Jr. and others at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama. She has showcased on PBS’s Austin City Limits and was the subject of a six-minute feature on the PBS News Hour.
“I’m an idea person – not so much a songwriter,”: said Copeland. “Writing really happens organically with what goes on in the world and what I’m going through.
“I work with great songwriters. It’s almost like having songs tailor-made for me. For us, it is not political at all — it’s just about what is happening.”
Video link for Shemekia Copeland — https://youtu.be/c8__7yX5-hs.
The show at Annenberg Center on February 7 will start 8 p.m.
Ticket prices start at $34.
On January 24, the Blues Foundation announced the nominees for the 46th Annual Blues Music Awards. Alligator Records artists received an astounding 27 nominations.
Leading all artists with six nominations is Rick Estrin & The Nightcats. Nominations include the awards for Band Of The Year, Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year (for THE HITS KEEP COMING) and, for Estrin, harmonica and the B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year.
Guitarist Christoffer “Kid” Andersen and drummer Derrick “D’Mar” Martin received individual nominations.
Three Alligator artists — Ronnie Baker Brooks, Chris Cain and Copeland — received four nominations each. All three were recognized for Song Of The Year: Copeland for the title track from her GRAMMY-nominated album BLAME IT ON EVE, Brooks for the title track of his Alligator debut, BLUES IN MY DNA, and Cain for Blues For My Dad, from his album GOOD INTENTIONS GONE BAD.
The Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling received two nominations: Band Of The Year and an individual nomination for bassist Rodrigo Mantovani.
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Tinsley Ellis, Carolyn Wonderland, Southern Avenue, Tommy Castro, Billy Branch and drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith (of The Cash Box Kings) each received one nomination.
If it’s a Friday or Saturday night and you’re looking to hear some live blues music, look no further than Jamey’s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, 215-477-9985,www.jameyshouseofmusic.com).
On February 8, Toronzo Cannon will be performing songs from his new album, “Shut Up & Play!” The album was just released on February 7 on Alligator Records.
With his richly detailed, truth-telling original songs, blistering, inventive guitar work and impassioned vocals, Cannon is on the cutting edge of today’s contemporary blues scene. The Chicago bluesman is known as one of the genre’s most creative artists.
His sound is inspired by his heroes, including Hound Dog Taylor, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Albert King, Son Seals and Jimi Hendrix.
On “Shut Up & Play!,” he blazes his own path with 11 emotionally-charged originals. From serious to humorous, Cannon’s imaginative songs are fueled by his powerful, cathartic guitar solos and his soulfully authoritative voice.
“Shut Up & Play!” was co-produced by Cannon and Alligator president Bruce Iglauer. The album finds Cannon, a former Chicago Transit Authority bus driver, delivering timeless stories of common experiences, often unfolding in uncommon ways.
His passionate and focused guitar playing sets his lyrics ablaze.
Cannon has performed at clubs and festivals at major cities all over the U.S. and continues to bring his music directly to his fans. He’s toured Canada, the UK, made his way across Europe and even to Japan.
Now, with “Shut Up & Play!,” Cannon delivers his songs with purpose and passion.
According to Cannon, “It’s not about the solos — it’s about the songs. People get used to everyday life, so it’s easy to miss the things around them.
“I know the problems of Chicago, the hardships. I write about those things. But I love my city, warts and all. I grew up here. It molded me and gave me the people and places I know and love.
“And it produced the Chicago blues giants that came here from down south. I’m proud to be from Chicago and to be able to stand on the shoulders of every great Chicago blues musician who came before me.”
All the attention he’s received only makes Cannon more focused. “I feel like I’ve become an ambassador for Chicago blues. People expect a lot from me,” said Cannon. “But it’s good, because I’m forced to keep upping my game.”
Cannon and Iglauer are happy partners.
“Bruce produced the new album too,” said Cannon, during a phone interview from New York City. “We recorded it in winter 2023 – back in November.
“We used JoyRide Studio in Chicago – the same studio we used for my last two on Alligator. Bruce and I co-produced it and Blaise Barton was the engineer.
“I had a little more influence on the production this time. I was more comfortable in the studio – and I had a lot more ideas.
“Bruce and I are flexible when we’re working together. We do go back and forth. The object is to make the best record we can. I had the band in the studio for two days and then we spent two months mixing.
“The songs came in over a period of a year-and-a-half. I got divorced in 2021, so the storyline is about what’s going on post-divorce. You’re used to something for 20 years and then you’re back in the pond.
“But it is not a bunch of ‘woe is me’ songs. It’s a great album with a lot of different songs.”
His previous album derived inspiration from his former day job as a bus driver for CTA.
Cannon retired four years ago. Back then, he talked about the link between his two professions.
“The things I see while driving my bus are inspiration for songs,” said Cannon, during an interview a few years ago.
“The whole CD (“The Preacher, The Politician Or The Pimp”) was written on the bus. I get a lot of ideas when I’m driving. I’ve looked back and seen people shooting up heroin in the back of the bus. I’ve had grandmothers fighting on my bus.”
Real-life situations are great topics for songwriters. Cannon had had the benefit of sitting in a front row seat for years and having the ability to transform what he sees into stellar blues tracks.
“Me being from Chicago and seeing what I see every day exposes me to a lot of tax brackets,” said Cannon. “I talk to people. I don’t know who you are, but you tell me. The other day, I had to coax a guy off my bus in a tough section and then a few minutes later, I’m driving on the ‘Magnificent Mile,’ which is one of the richest areas in Chicago. My bus goes through a LOT of tax brackets.”
Almost every day, Cannon was in a great – and constantly moving – position to be an observer of life in a big American city.
“My last album was a funny take on real life,” said Cannon this week. “This new album is socially conscious.
“I’m writing real stuff with a slant that is not particularly happy. It’s more bluesy than the last album. It’s music by a bluesman from Chicago.”
Cannon grew up on the South Side of Chicago near the Robert Taylor Homes and Theresa’s Lounge where he heard blues artists including Buddy Guy and Junior Wells.
Throughout the history of Chicago blues, the intensely competitive local club scene has served as a proving ground, where only the best musicians rise to the top.
Iconic blues artists from Muddy Waters to Howlin’ Wolf to Koko Taylor to Hound Dog Taylor to Luther Allison all paid their dues in the Chicago blues bars before making their mark on the world.
The same holds true today, as newcomers look to living legends like Buddy Guy, Eddy Clearwater and Lil’ Ed Williams for inspiration in taking their music from Chicago to fans across the globe.
Now, Cannon is ready to write his own story as he claims his place as one of the city’s most popular and innovative blues musicians.
“I came in the side door of blues,” said Cannon.
“I grew up around it. When I started playing guitar, I wanted to play reggae. All the clubs around Chicago were blues clubs. I grew up in the neighborhood of Theresa’s Lounge and never even knew how famous it was until I got older.
“I remember hearing all these great blues guys like Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. Now, I’m a blues musician. I have had some full-circle moments. I play blues for this age.”
Video link for Toronzo Cannon — https://youtu.be/sx0Xf-FIjJk.
Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door.
Pay-per-view tickets are $15.
On February 6, it will be time for a show by the Philadelphia Blues Society featuring special guest Shakey Lee on guitar and harmonica.
“We had success with the Thursday jazz shows but we wanted to give our audiences more,” said Jamey’s owner/manager Jamey Reilly.
“The first Thursday of the month will be the Philadelphia Blues Society.”
“The second Thursday will be Dueling Pianos and Lisa Chavous will have her show every third Thursday. The fourth Thursday will be A.C. Steel and the Perpetrators. There will be a movie night in the five months when there is a fifth Thursday.”
Every Sunday, Jamey’s presents “SUNDAY BLUES BRUNCH & JAM” featuring the Philly Blues Kings. On the second Sunday of each month, the featured act is the Girke-Davis Project which features Reilly, Roger Girke, Glenn Bickel, Fred Berman and John Colgan-Davis.
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org) will present Rachel Harris on February 7 and 9 and Jingo on February 8.
Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org) will present Highway Run on February 8.
Elkton Music Hall (107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, www.elktonmusichall.com) will host Dustbowl Revival on February 6, Street Survivors and Burning Sky on February 7 and Jawn of the Dead on February 8.
