When the voice of Todd Haimes, artistic director, welcomes
the audience at the Laura Pels Theatre, we learn that
the mission of the Roundabout Theatre Company is to
revive classics and promote new works. So, how would
one describe “Scotland, PA,” a musical based upon
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” In a sense, I guess it is both.
While the classic play is a dark, sometimes chilling tale of
murderous ambition, “Scotland, PA” begins as a humorous
light story of a young married couple struggling to get ahead.
Both Mac (Ryan McCartan) and Pat (Taylor Iman Jones) work
for Duncan, a greedy restaurant owner. Although Mac offers
suggestions to improve his diner, Duncan disparages him,
often ridiculing his ideas such as chicken nuggets and
doughnut holes. Duncan (depicted by Shakespeare as a
kindly king) lives in splendor while his employees live in a
trailer camp. He is not at all a sympathetic character. At the
beginning, Mac is content, having married Pat, the love of
his life. However, three figures appear to him, promising him
good fortune. They are witches in Shakespeare, but in the
musical, they are the voices in
Mac’s head when he’s high from
smoking.
When Duncan mocks Mac’s
idea of a drive-through for the
restaurant, it’s the last straw
for Pat who suggests that they
rob him to finance their own
restaurant. The robbery goes
awry and Duncan falls into the
new fryer, burning and killing him. The couple steal the
money and buy the diner from Duncan’s son Malcolm, a
closeted gay high school football player.
As Mac’s success grows, the musical gets more serious. To
hide their part in Duncan’s death, Mac kills Banko, his best
friend. Until his death, Banko is the comic relief of the play
and Jay Armstrong Johnson is hysterical as the dimwitted
stoner. McCartan is an attractive Mac as he begins somewhat
nerdy but gains in power, stands straighter and sings more
powerfully.
The three ‘voices,’ singers Wonu Ogunfowora, Alysha
Umphress, and David Rossmer look like hippies and seem
to be partying, even as disaster
strikes.
Some of the songs (music and
lyrics by Adam Gwon) are quite
catchy and tuneful while other
songs are lackluster. Adapted
from the original 2001 cult film
“Scotland, PA,” Michael Mitnick’s
book is clever and creative.
The biggest laugh of the musical is a visual one, as Mac gets
to implement his ideas. The audience smiles in recognition
at his restaurant, a thinly disguised MacDonalds. A character
called Ray Kroc comes to discuss franchises with him. The
‘voices’ lull Mac with a false sense of safety when they make
three ambiguous predictions. Later Mac realizes that one of
them, mountains covered with blood, refers to his golden
arches.
The musical has the intimate feel of an Off-Broadway show.
However, some of the older subscription holders to The
Roundabout might not find the show to their liking but it
would be a wonderful follow-up for an English class that just
finished studying the Shakespearean classic
