Jason Manford to Star in the UK Premiere of Something Rotten!

Jason Manford to Star in the UK Premiere of Something Rotten!

Updated 06-11-25

Comedy, TV and musical theatre favourite Jason Manford will be strutting the stage in pantaloons next summer when the award-winning Broadway smash Something Rotten! makes its long-awaited UK premiere.

The hit musical will open at the Manchester Opera House from 16 June to 19 July 2026, ahead of a planned West End transfer. Tickets are now on sale.

Set in the gloriously chaotic 1590s, the show follows brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom as they try to outdo the era’s superstar playwright — one William Shakespeare — by inventing a brand new art form: the musical. With help from a slightly unreliable soothsayer, they set out to create a spectacle full of acting, singing and dancing… all at once.

Jason Manford, a MatineeMusicals favourite, has become one of Britain’s most beloved stage performers, with standout roles in Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Guys and Dolls, Curtains and The Wizard of Oz.

Created by the team behind Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical — Grammy Award-winner Wayne Kirkpatrick, screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run), and comedy writer John O’Farrell (Spitting Image, Have I Got News For You) — Something Rotten! became a Broadway sensation, earning ten Tony nominations.

This new UK production will be directed by Tim Jackson (Merrily We Roll Along, Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York), produced by Kevin McCollum (Rent, Mrs. Doubtfire) and Joshua Andrews, and presented by Alchemation and JAS Theatricals.

A riotous mix of Elizabethan flair, showbiz satire and all that jazz, Something Rotten! promises to be one of next year’s funniest nights out.

Get tickets from the official site HERE