Jason Manford to star in rotten new musical

Double-take: Jason Manford as living tragedy and comedy masks in Something Rotten, coming next summer

Comedy star Jason Manford will return to the stage in rather fetching pantaloons next summer - in the award-winning comedy musical Something Rotten! A mash-up of song, dance and Elizabethan absurdity, it tells the story behind the creation of the world’s very first musical.

Something Rotten! will have its UK premiere at Manchester's Opera House next June (June 16-July 18, 2026), ahead of a West End run.

Brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a 16th Century hit play - but remain stuck in the shadow of pompous Renaissance rock star 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 form, the musical! Amid the scandalous excitement of opening night, the Bottom brothers discover reaching the top means being true to yourself - and all that, er, Elizabethan jazz.

Jason Manford is no stranger to musicals, of course; the Manchester comedian, singer and actor has starred in the West End and across the UK in Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Guys and Dolls, Curtains and The Wizard of Oz.

Created by the award-winning team behind Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical - Grammy award-winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick, screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author and comedy scriptwriter John O’Farrell, Something Rotten! was the toast of Broadway, where it had 10 Tony award nominations.

This new production, which follows the acclaimed 2023, award-winning concert version, is directed by Tim Jackson.

More info here