Something Rotten!

Comedy, TV and musical theatre icon Jason Manford will make his highly anticipated return to the stage in fetching pantaloons next summer in the award-winning comedy musical Something Rotten!

A side-splitting mash-up of song, dance and Elizabethan absurdity that tells the story behind the creation of the world’s very first musical, Something Rotten! will premiere in the UK - the land where it all (most definitely) happened! - at the Manchester Opera House from 16th June to 19th July 2026, ahead of a West End run.

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.