Adam Pascal-directed 'Something Rotten!' no longer happening

Plans for a local production of “Something Rotten!," the Shakespeare-themed musical comedy, have been scuppered, according to Huntington-based director Adam Pascal.

Or to paraphrase the Bard: If wishes had prevailed with them, their purpose should not have failed them.

“Something Rotten!” was scheduled to run Aug. 2-4 at Bayway Arts Center in East Islip, but Pascal said the production proved too difficult to mount on too tight a schedule. “I just wanted to do something fun and I wanted to do that show so much, so I kind of just dove in,” he said. “It was too big of a mountain for the means that we had.”

Pascal, a Broadway actor who grew up in Woodbury, seemed the right choice to direct “Something Rotten!,” having played the part of William Shakespeare on Broadway and in the touring production that launched in 2017. Pascal joined forces with From Stage to Screen, the theater academy based in Huntington, and began holding auditions earlier this year. Roughly a week ago, however — before any casting decisions were made — Pascal decided to pull the plug.

“It really requires a full cast of triple threats,” Pascal explained. “I’m not saying by any stretch that those types of talents are not available. But we needed a lot of them, and we needed them in a short amount of time.”

He added that the complicated musical numbers were also a factor. “All those people dressed as eggs,” he said. “It was just one huge production number after another.”

“Something Rotten!” was to have been Pascal’s second outing as a director, following last summer's "Rent" for From Stage to Screen at Five Towns College in Dix Hills. He’s now pondering a smaller-scale play, though he has not made any firm plans.

“Something may happen, but I can’t say for sure,” Pascal said. “We’re still in the conversation stage of, ‘Is there anything else we can do this summer?’ ”

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman