A Burger and Fries in Scotland, PA
William Shakespeare was a playwright who wrote many sonnets and plays, comedies, tragedies, adventures, and more. His works are Classics, and many of them are read in schools throughout the world. From what I have seen, the main ones that are read and discussed are “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet” and “MacBeth”. I mention Shakespeare mostly because the idea of the Off Broadway Musical, “Scotland, PA” is based off of the story of MacBeth, though it is set in a small Pennsylvania town called Scotland, PA in the 1970’s, mostly at a fast food restaurant, rather than in the distant past, in places like Verona or other areas across Europe.
At first, when I heard about it, I didn’t really understand what I was getting myself into. Yes, I’ve read MacBeth, but it was many years ago so I wasn’t exactly prepared for what I was getting when I went to the show. Initially, I got my ticket for the show because Wonu Ogunfowora was in it. Wonu, was one of the actresses from “We Are The Tigers”, which has been one of my current addictions for almost a year now and so when I heard she was doing this show, I promised myself I’d catch it at least once before it goes off the Off Broadway stage on December 8th.
I do plan on trying to get back a second time, however, this piece is about the first time seeing Scotland, PA and how I truly think that anyone who can get seats to this production at the Laura Pels Theatre in NYC should do it, and before it closes the 8th of December!
For those of you who don’t know the story of Macbeth, as Shakespeare wrote it, is a tragedy, which was first performed in the early 1600’s and follows a Scottish General named Macbeth who gets a prophecy from a trio of witches “Double Double Toil and Trouble, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” telling him that one day he will become the King of Scotland. Macbeth is consumed by ambition and his wife, Lady Macbeth, spurs him to action to make this prophecy come true, and quickly. In Shakespeare’s story, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne of Scotland for himself. He at first seems happy with his choice, but then he finds himself wracked with guilt and paranoia about what he has done, committing more murders to try to cover up his initial one of murdering/assassinating the king. The bloodbath he starts and consequent war which followed took both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself, into the realms of madness and death.
The Roundabout Theatre Company’s world premier of the new musical Scotland, PA, opened fully on October 23rd at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre at 111 West 46th Street. With book by Michael Mitnick, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon, directed by Lonny Price and choreographed by Josh Rhodes. I was lucky enough to snap up a ticket before their official opening night and I was hooked from the first note of the beautiful music and storyline. I’ve read many of the reviews and a number of them paint this musical in a bad light. I disagree. I think it was very well done and as I said before, I was hooked from the start. Those who sat around me seemed to be enjoying it as much as I did too, so I would like to believe that critics are not always showing what the world around them might think of something, but of their own likes and dislikes. Don’t be afraid to like something that another person doesn’t like! (Life lesson learned!)
The first thing I want to bring up about “Scotland, PA” is that everyone gets hungry, and I don't just mean to eat food. Everyone wants to, at some point in their lives, BE SOMEONE, to make something of themselves. Just being a small town nobody isn’t appealing to most people, and this shows in Mac and Pat (a young husband and wife) in this new musical based on both Macbeth and on the cult film of the same name as the musical, “Scotland, PA.” I won’t give away the whole story because I truly wish for you all to go into seeing the musical knowing almost nothing about what you’re going to be seeing just as I did, but I will say, that Pat and Mac are two of the lead characters who believe that their lives can be better than they are. Do you see yourself that way, reader? I see you that way!
Pat, Mac and most of the others are employees of Mr. Duncan’s fast food shop, “Duncan’s”. Mac is constantly coming up with ideas that he thinks will better both himself and Pat, but also Duncan’s fast food restaurant as a whole.
Duncan doesn’t seem to think that Mac’s ideas are any good, though, and that sets Mac's positive attitude back a bit, and starts to get Pat quite mad in more ways than one. I won’t dig deeper into this as this is what starts the whole domino effect of the story, however, within the journey story of the show we see how what one action can change the lives of many.
The same goes for things in our own lives, another reason as to why I think this musical is quite important for many people to see. There are many things to learn about in watching this musical and those two things are some of the lessons that I’ve learned from it and from my time at the Laura Pels.
I’ve learned many things in the recent past, some of them here at the Laura Pels, others are things I’ve learned in my reality, and all of which lead me to think that as much as Mac and Pat didn’t want to be a small town nobody, neither do I, but the way I am right now, I AM that small town nobody, despite trying hard to get out of that. I don’t want to be, but at the same time, I don’t think I have much of a choice right now. Not until I can find a way to better myself. But I WILL find a way to better myself in the end. I will.
*Stars of Scotland, PA:
Duncan - Jeb Brown Banko - Jay Armstrong Johnson Pat - Taylor Iman Jones
Mrs. Lenox - Lacretta McDuff - Megan Lawrence Mac - Ryan McCartan
Malcolm - Will Meyers Stacey - Wonu Ogunfowara Doug - David Rossmer
Jessie - Alysha Umphress Hector - Kaleb Wells
*Some of the Macbeth facts were brought back to me by Wikipedia as it has been some time since I've read it.
Image from Roundabout Theatre Company.
