By Dean Poling
The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA – The show must go on.

Following Hurricane Helene, South Georgia Drama Kidz organizers weighed canceling the Junior production of “Something Rotten!”

Jana Scott, show director, said the children’s theatre group missed several rehearsals after the hurricane.

“We really weren’t certain we could do it but the kids said they wanted to go forward,” Scott said.

Even though it meant more intense work to make up for missed rehearsals, the cast of children and youths, ages 5-18 years old, wanted the show to go on.

And it is scheduled to do so on its scheduled dates of Oct. 19 and 20 at the Performing Arts Center.

Asked Tuesday evening if they’re ready to perform the show, the youngsters answered with a mix of yes and no. … The standard mixed answer from any cast and crew a few days prior to opening night.

“Something Rotten! Jr.” is an abbreviated version of the Broadway musical, adapted specifically for children’s theatre.

While “Something Rotten!” may not be familiar to some audiences, its nods to other hit Broadway songs and shows should be familiar to most audiences.

Drama Kidz show synopsis: “Set in the 1590s, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as ‘The Bard.’ 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. But amidst the scandalous excitement of opening night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self, and all that jazz.”

Grammy Award–winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick and screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell created “Something Rotten!”

Scott said the show “is a love letter to musicals and Shakespeare.”

And the local performances will be a bow to 30-plus kids determined to finish what they started in the face of adversity.

THE CAST: Adalyn Williamson, Emmett Hamblin, Noah DeVine, Baxa Campbell, Abby Jo Hamblin, Charlotte Foster, Madison Garcia, Gunner Smith, Dylan Parramore, Maelee Baltrus, Asher Roberts, Reese Dorminey, Isabelle Terry, Josie Mayne, Chris Litster, Sara Heaton, Madelyn Burk, Aubrey Washburn, Cara Fralick, Elizabeth Foster, Corynn Hyder, Katie Morris, Reed Miller, Iris Cleary Enzo Hamblin, Heidi Hamblin, Jeremy Litster, Bea Foqarino, Braden McMillan, Jacob Litster, Hannah Roberts, Jewel Snow, Shiloh Thompson.

South Georgia Drama Kidz presents “Something Rotten! Jr.,” 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, Performing Arts Center (at the site of the old Valdosta High School), 3101 Barack Obama Boulevard. More information, tickets: Visit www.southgeorgiadramakidz.com.