More Create Blog Sign In THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019 THEATER: "Scotland, PA" or, The Bloody King Of Burgers SCOTLAND, PA ** out of **** ROUNDABOUT AT LAURA PELS THEATRE Really, there are no bad ideas.</p><p> It wasn't a bad idea to make a movie called Scotland, PA, which set Shakespeare's Macbeth at a burger joint in the 1970s.</p><p> I mean, why not? The movie was a poorly reviewed flop, but with Maura Tierney and Christopher Walken in the cast (not tomention Andy Dick as one of the witches), it inevitably became a "cult" classic.</p><p> Now, turning a poorly reviewed, flop movie into a musical, well that's certainly not a BAD idea either.</p><p> Just...unexpected.</p><p> The result is Scotland, PA (and not, sadly, Scotland, PA! The Musical! ).</p><p> It's 1975 in Scotland, Pennsylvania where Mac (Ryan McCartan) and his wife Pat (Taylor Iman Jones) are trapped in dead- end jobs at greasy burger joint.</p><p> Mac's got a ton of ideas to spruce theplace up.</p><p> Plastic tables that are easier to clean! Chicken nuggets! Areally colorful sign with a giant "M." And a drive-through window.</p><p> The guy's a genius.</p><p> But his boss ignores him and won't even give the kid a try.</p><p> When Mac proves the current manager is ripping the place off, theboss is mildly grateful...but insists his rebellious son Malcolm (WillMeyers) gets the job.</p><p> Modestly goaded on by Pat (mostly, she grumbles that it isn't fair), they plan to rob the place, accidentally kill the boss, buy the joint outright from Malcolm, turn it into a massive hit suspiciously like afast food chain that also begins with "M" and plan to go nationwide!You might even say Mac is a burger king. (The book by Michael Mitnick is filled with such obvious bits.) If you know Macbeth , you know Mac's meteoric rise comes with an equally meteoric fall, along with ghosts, a wife haunted by her crimes and lots of blood.MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK Michael Giltz is a freelance writer based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com FAVORITE LINKS Americablog Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN Radio Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl Chin's Blog Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce Greenspan's Blog BLOG ARCHIVE ▼ 2019 (81) ► November (1) ▼ October (21)The mostly forgettable songs by Adam Gwon serve their function and director Lonny Price does too, whether it's an efficient if anonymous early number like "Drive Thru," a quick transformation from burger dive into gleaming fast food emporium (Anna Louizos, nicely doing what's expected) or the hard-to-stage bloody finale.</p><p> Apparently, theirsuper-expensive (and pointy!) giant yellow M sits on the ground.</p><p> Twonumbers stand out. "Clairvoyant" is distractingly built up into the show's big number when it might have worked better in a more intimate setting. "Why I Love Football" actually moves the storyforward with humor and a little heart, though even that has a filler linelike "Russell does pushups." [Here's a music video for one of the show's big numbers.</p><p> It featuresthe two stars but does not reflect the staging of the song in the actualmusical.] Worse, the book bends over backwards to make its characters moreappealing.</p><p> Pat, the Lady Macbeth character, hardly goads Mac on atall.</p><p> Maybe she kvetches a little.</p><p> And Mac seems about as ruthless as aBOOKS: Don't Bother Trying To "Find Me" THEATER: "The Sound Inside" Gets Muffled By Final...</p><p> THEATER: Stuff and Nonsense for Friendly Crowds --...</p><p> THEATER: "Scotland, PA" or, The Bloody King Of Bur...</p><p> THEATER: "For Colored Girls" Returns.</p><p> Finally! The Movies, Books, Theater, Concerts, CDs I've See...</p><p> BookFilter Reading List TV and Film Must Watch List THEATER: "Forbidden Broadway" Is Back and Broadway...</p><p> THEATER: "Soft Power" In Hard Times THEATER: "Dublin Carol" Hits a Mournful But Hopefu...</p><p> THEATER: COLE PORTER REVUE "DECLINE ANDFALL" IS T...</p><p> THEATER: "Terra Firma" Is On Shaky Ground THEATER: "The Glass Menagerie" Sans Tricks OrTrea...</p><p> THEATER: Wrestling With Faith in "Heroes Of The Fo...</p><p> THEATER: A Bright Future In Reach For "Chasing Rai...</p><p> THEATER: The Not-So "Great Society" THEATER: BOO! A Halloween Scare Fest Closes Its Ey...</p><p> THEATER: "A(loft) Modulation" -- A Play With Jazz ...</p><p> THEATER: "Freestyle Love Supreme" and "Derren Brow...</p><p> BOOKS: A Fantasy Classic Finally Translated Into E... ► September (10) ► August (9)disgruntled employee who might steal rolls of toilet paper just to stick it to the man.</p><p> Kinder characters neuter the relentless ambition which powers the original play.</p><p> Mac and Pat's first murder isn't a ruthless gambit toseize power.</p><p> It's an accident! Worse, the musical removes a powerfulplot twist from the film.</p><p> In the movie, the manager actually installs a drive-in window to great success, but still ignores Mac.</p><p> In the play, he just ignores Mac's ideas, which makes the decision to burglarize thestore more random than desperate.</p><p> In the movie, that's their moneyfrom their idea! Hey, if you want to tell a story about pretty decentpeople who get in over their heads, just don't make Macbeth ! The trappings are still there, including three witches (here seen asthree hippies), a ghostly vision during a live TV interview and thatbodies-piling-up finale.</p><p> But the final result is barely Macbeth -adjacent rather than the bloody Macbeth Shakespeare wrote.</p><p> And that's a hamburger without meat.</p><p> Still the plot picks up in the second act and the two leads are appealing.</p><p> Most everyone has a decent voice, though not always whensinging those big notes for that AOR feel.</p><p> Ironically, Will Meyers asMalcolm has one of the weaker voices, but still pulls off the show's bestsong with sex appeal and a warm presence.</p><p> Megan Lawrence killed in Broadway's The Pajama Game.</p><p> Here Lawrence does what she can to gin up a role as a suspicious detective looking into this mess.</p><p> And two veterans of Broadway's recent On The Town revival are together again.</p><p> Alysha Umphress (who was the cabbie Hildy) has little to sink her teeth into as a hippie/witch.</p><p> But Jay Armstrong Johnson as the dim but likable Banko steals what littleshow there is with his comic timing.</p><p> He makes you think Banko's big number "Kick-Ass Party" is better than it actually is here.</p><p> On the downside, he's so likable, the show's desire to keep the audience onMac's side falls flat after he offs the poor dude.</p><p> That's a lot of talent and they make this too-harmless show bearable.</p><p> The actors didn't lack for courage but the creators did.</p><p> Guys, the nexttime you want to tackle a power-hungry tale with a villainousprotagonist who slaughters everyone in his path until the curse of hisgreed brings him low, go for it.</p><p> Screw your courage to the sticking place and you will not fail.</p><p> THEATER OF 2019Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2 Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public *** Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2 Choir Boy ** 1/2 White Noise ** 1/2 Kiss Me, Kate ***► July (7) ► June (3) ► May (6) ► April (10) ► March (5) ► February (1) ► January (8) ► 2018 (38) ► 2017 (6) ► 2016 (2) ► 2015 (29) ► 2014 (2) ► 2013 (5) ► 2012 (17) ► 2011 (15) ► 2010 (10) ► 2009 (43) ► 2008 (86) ► 2007 (781) ► 2006 (2412) ► 2005 (5)Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2 Ain't Too Proud ** The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2 Mrs.</p><p> Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2 Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2 Socrates ** The Pain Of My Belligerence * Burn This ** Hadestown *** 1/2 All My Sons * 1/2 Tootsie ** 1/2 Ink *** Beetlejuice ** Estado Vegetal *** Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2 Cirque du Soleil: Luzia *** BLKS ** 1/2 Moulin Rouge ** 1/2 Bat Out Of Hell ** Unchilding ** Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child *** Betrayal *** 1/2 Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2 Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2 Derren Brown: Secret *** (A)loft Modulation * 1/2 The Great Society ** I Can't See * Heroes Of The Fourth Turning ** 1/2 Chasing Rainbows: The Road To Oz *** The Glass Menagerie (dir Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch) ** Terra Firma (debut of The Coop theater company) ** Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation *** Dublin Carol ** 1/2 Soft Power ** The Decline and Fall of The Entire World As Seen Through The EyesOf Cole Porter *** For Colored Girls ** 1/2 Scotland, PA ** Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book lover’s best friend.</p><p> It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of the way.</p><p> He’s also the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It’s available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 12:06 AM NO COMMENTS: Post a Comment Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home
