Previews are
always an exciting time for a show. Last night, when I saw Scotland, PA in previews at Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre, director
Lonny Price came out to let us know we would be the first audience ever to hear
new song lyrics that had just been given to an actor that day!
The number was a
patter song, he explained, with lots of words sung very quickly, so the actress
would be holding a pad of paper. He said we would know the moment when it came,
which was true, but fortunately, the character was a detective taking notes
anyway, so had he not announced it in advance, we might not have noticed a
thing.
If you haven't heard
about Scotland, PA yet, it's a new
musical with songs by Adam Gwon and a book by Michael Mitnick based on the 2001
film by Billy Morrissette. Inspired by William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the movie and the musical tell
a familiar story of ambition, murder, and madness, but re-set in a 1970s-era
fast-food restaurant in the middle of rural Pennsylvania.
The three
witches are replaced by three hippies, played in the musical by Alysha
Umphress, Wonu Ogunfowora, and Kaleb Wells. Ryan McCartan and Taylor Iman Jones
play the murderous couple, whose fierce sexuality only grows as they plot to kill
their way to the top. In the film, Christopher Walken played the homicide inspector
Lieutenant McDuff, but in a brilliant gender switch, the character in the
musical becomes Peg McDuff, played by the exceptional Megan Lawrence.
It was Lawrence
who did that wonderful patter song, and Gwon's lyrics can be hysterical. Josh
Rhodes's choreography is inventive and memorable, and the set designed by Anna Louizos provides just the right tone. At intermission, even the lobby is
transformed into a fast-food restaurant adorned with a certain golden M.
