Scotland PA Previews

Previews for the new musical from Adam Gwon @ Roundabout have begun Off-Broadway. Early thoughts are appreciated as always.

"This deliciously dark new musical comedy, based on the cult film (and the bard's Macbeth), springs to life in a sleepy Pennsylvania town (population 1,203—and dropping), where a burger-joint manager and his wife cook up a plan to super-size their lives. As their ambitions grow and the bodies fall, the couple finds out just how far they’ll go for a taste of the oh-so-tempting American dream."

Got to see this show last night and enjoyed it overall! Lonny Price had a short speech in the beginning stating its the first preview of this production and that they may have to stop the show (they’d only stop it if an actor’s safety is in danger.) thankfully they didn’t stop the show.
I came in not knowing anything about the show other than it’s loosely adapted from shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Cast was great! Taylor Iman Jones (Pat) was a standout for me as well as Jay Armstrong Johnson.
Yes, the son Malcolm’s song was still there and was certainly a delight! Given how it’s fall and Halloween season coming up it’s an entertaining show to watch. I plan to see it again after it opens!

Updated On: 9/15/19 at 09:26 AM

Just got out of the second preview and enjoyed it a lot. The cast is amazing, and most of them have numerous Broadway credits. You will recognize all of them! The score I would describe as tuneful and served the show well. I agree with Wick3 about the song by the owner’s son. It’s a standout. The show is funny and yet gruesome in spots. It took me by surprise, and I groaned out loud a couple of times.

For a second preview, it was marvelously put together! Loads of fun.

Updated On: 9/15/19 at 06:14 PM

JBroadway said: "I thought the show was fine, but nothing to write home about. I enjoyed a few of the songs but I thought a lot of them were really generic and forgettable. The show had a lot of humor, but none of it really landed for me, except for a couple bits.

My biggest issue is that they took a pretty dark story, with a smart, creative concept,and made it feel like your average, glossy, Broadway-style Musical. Likethey took the story and ran it through a mold to make it look and sound like what a high-budget 21st century Musical is supposed to look and sound like. I wanted more grit, more character, and more creativity with the tone and the form of the show. I’ve never seen the movie, so I don’t know how it compares, but the idea alone had the potential to be a really interesting musical, and this was not interesting.

Still, by the end of the show I had a fun enough time. I liked Act 2 significantly more than Act 1."

I wrote above without seeing this from JBroadway, which is pretty spot on. There is a glossy sheen that reminded me of Be More Chill, in a way, like it went through a "modern funny musical machine" before it got to the stage. I think the leads sorta encapsulate this: the performances were perfect, but there was absolutely nothing interesting about either of them, their pipes aside.

Marianne2 said: "I hate to be that person, but does anyone remember about how long it ran? Just trying to figure out timing between this ending, heading back to the flea market, and catching my bus home."



The running time on the website was pretty accurate. 2h15m including the intermission.

Seeing this in early October- I wasn’t thrilled with the location of the Hiptix seats so I’m sharing this code I found for 59 dollar seats:
SPAFB2

Looking forward to this!

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It was my first off-Broadway show and I enjoyed it way more than some Broadway shows that I've seen in the past. The actors are very talented and although the songs aren't too memorable, the play itself was very funny, consistently entertaining, with a very strong plot (I haven't seen the movie). I would love to see it again, maybe after it opens and if I have time. TDF has tickets for this week for $33.

Updated On: 9/17/19 at 07:52 AM

Owen, my thoughts fall more in line with yours. The show might not be the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s also a total waste of time and worse, a total waste of good source material for a musical.

The score is downright terrible. Generic to the nth degree; the piece begins (naturally) with the witches who are given a dull as dirt song about destiny (yawn) and then the second number is some drippy blob of a song given to Lady M that warns you that this will not be getting any better. Only the act one finale shows signs of life, but given the context and the melody, it feels merely like a redux of Opening Up from Waitress.

I thought the actors tried, but they weren’t able to overcome the material. In fairness to them, name the actor who could spin this straw into gold. Only Megan Lawrence brought some life, spunk and a bit of camp into the proceedings.

The coda after the bows felt like a cut scene from Prince or Central Park and for that I was grateful, but it doesn’t justify going to see it for yourself.

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Saw this today and thought it was beyond bland. I wanted spooky, scary, and instead got a Halloween Express.

The score is generic contemporary musical theater. Everything sounded vaguely the same. The actors were all vague. No one gave an interesting performance or had any spark. I kept thinking Benjamin Walker would have made an excellent Mac. His act 2 spiral would have been incredible, but instead we get a bland version.

Even the set and design were pretty boring. The direction was lazy. For a restaurant the employees did a lot of sitting at tables doing nothing.

The trio of witches were fun, but they weren’t given anything to work with.

There’s a song in act 2 about how Mac can see the future and it’ll be fine and the ensemble comes out in all white and it should have been a funny gag - at least that’s what they were going for - and it fell so flat.

The scene in the woods with Mac and Jay Johnson’s character needed some sort of menacing underscoring or something.

Lady M’s big meltdown song wasn’t bad but again the direction was just so piss poor. She’s got noting to do and I think the song doesn’t build vocally and the sad applause after should have been an indication.

Megan Lawerence did add some great camp & spark. Is her song new? Seemed she had the lines on her notepad. And at times the lights would move before her and vice versa. I know it’s still tech and previews, but found that pretty entertaining.

I found “Ordinary Days” to be pretty bland too, so maybe I just don’t enjoy the composer.

Is anyone else PLAGUED by YouTube ads for this show?

Can anyone who’s seen it comment on the inappropriateness for a young teen? Thanks in advance.