Diedre Cochrane, Will Dusek, Matt Riehle, and Tara Borman Photo by Dan Norman

The musical is based on a 2001 indie film written by Billy Morrissette and seen by few people. Like the film, the musical shifts the action from Dunsinane Castle in medieval Scotland to Duncan's Diner in the 1970s (cue the sounds of Aerosmith and Journey) in the tiny town of Scotland in rural Pennsylvania. (It's a real town, population 1,395, about six miles off the Appalachian Trail and far from anything resembling a big city). The diner's owner, Norm Duncan, is a tyrannical boss who steals employees ideas and cuts their salaries at will. Shakespeare's Duncan was King of Scotland, so also a boss, but his rule was marked by fairness and wisdom. One of his lowly employees, Joe McBeth, known to everyone as Mac, gets the goods on embezzling manager Doug, raising his stature in Duncan's eyes–much as Shakespeare's Macbeth was lifted up to by Duncan to the rank of Thane of Cawdor after dispatching the king's foes in battle. So, we can see how Mitnick and Gwon run parallel tracks between Macbeth and Mac, but with a good number of twists.

Like Macbeth, Mac has a coldly ambitious significant other, a co-worker named Pat. Mac is ready to pop the question to Pat and his nervousness about her accepting his proposal fires up his own drive, from contentment behind the deep fryer to acting to move up the ladder, as Pat presses him to do. Adding to Mac's encouragement are a trio of stoners–really heavy users, man–hanging around the diner, whose groovy pronouncements point Mac in the direction of drastic action. Really, three stoners are a lot more fun than the three witches (or weird sisters, if you will) Shakespeare cooked up.

The plot continues with more variations on characters and themes from Macbeth. Mac's boon companion is named Banko (Banquo, in the Shakespeare), here conceived as a total nit-wit who falls into jeopardy only when he gets wise (a phrase you will want to listen for) to Mac and Pat's dastardly scheme. King Duncan's dutiful son Malcom is now Duncan's teenage, football-obsessed son Malcom, seething with contempt for his father, his town, and everything but football. McDuff, who pursues justice against villainous Macbeth, is transformed into wise-cracking Detective Peg McDuff, sent down from Harrisburg to investigate Duncan's unique death. You will absolutely recognize the way in which Pat mimics Lady Macbeth's guilt-ridden obsession with her blood-stained hands. It is all very merry in a gallows humor, hard rock driving way.

Mitnick's book deftly transposes the gist of "the Scottish play" from a tragedy drawn from overreaching ambition to a comedy that mines base human instincts. It has a great time transitioning Duncan's Diner into McBeth's Burgers, complete with gaudy employee uniforms, a drive-thru, and an exterior design whose soaring arches are awfully familiar. Adam Gwon's songs are not particularly memorable on their own, but handily conjure up the sound and sentiments of 1970s rock 'n' roll, and, moreover, illuminate character and plot points, as songs in a musical comedy are meant to do.

"Everybody's Hungry" is a fitting anthem that establishes the universality of the desires that lie at the foundation of the tale. Pat's "What Are We Waitin' For," sung with rock diva fury by Katherine Fried, lays bare the nature of unbridled ambition, while Mac's "Somebody," given a soulful delivery by Will Dusek, opens the tortured heart of a slacker fry cook who discovers the drive to aspire for more. Other songs that work especially well are "Break Something," expressing Mac and Pat's willingness to take fate by the throat; Banko's half-baked hedonistic "Kick-Ass Party;" the psycho-dreamy "Heaven" in which the Stoners prompt Pat and Mac to envision how life could be; "Peg McDuff Is on the Case" (the title says it all); "Why I Love Football," Malcom's tender revelation of what a life among the jocks means to him; and "Clairvoyant," Mac and Pat's pinnacle of ambition, the peak before the inevitable fall. By the last half of the second act, the songs acquire a sameness (a couple are reprises) and lose some of their charm, but by then we are hooked on the snowballing drive of the narrative.

The leads, Will Dusek as Mac and Katherine Fried as Pat, are two of the most phenomenal Twin Cities musical theatre performers to have stepped up in the past year, with Dusek's powerhouse star roles in Chanhassen's Jersey Boys and Artistry's Newsies, and Fried's luminescent lead in Ten Thousand Things' The Spitfire Grill. Dusek's beautiful voice is less evident singing this harder-rock score, but he wonderfully shows Mac's evolution from a thirtyish dude satisfied with a low-pay life, who only wants to win over his girl, to a demon whose villainous deeds seal his horrific fate. Also, he moves with the lithe pizazz of a musical theatre pro to Lorin Latarro and Travis Waldschmidt's inventive choreography. Fried projects the yearning of a rock diva in her numbers, and brings authenticity to both Pat's manipulative, ambitious nature, and her descent into madness.

Emily Gunyou Halaas is hilarious, teetering between droll and snarky, as McDuff and gets good mileage out of the joke built into being a vegetarian while questioning the suspects at McBeth's burger joint. Timothy Thomas is winningly detestable as Duncan, which makes his gruesome death easy to laugh about, while Joshua Row as Malcom is a wrathful tempest, spewing relentless hatred until, in a 180-degree spin that Row pulls off with aplomb, he shows his tender inner self in "Why I Love Football." Tom Reed, a swell comedic actor, stepped up on short notice to replace injured Riley McNutt in the roll of Banko, and is convincingly dopey–if anything, too much so. I wonder if anyone so witless could hold a job, even in a burger joint, without the support of a sheltered workshop. Still, Reed is a pleasure to watch and his guileless loyalty to his pal Mac genuinely feels heartwarming.

The three stoners, played by Tara Borman, Diedre Cochran and Matt Riehle, convincingly convey the demeanor of spaced-out, hippy-haired freaks, with Borman being the one who comically falls into trances and delivers prophecies to Mac, while Cochran doubles as Brenda, the unrequited object of Banko's affections. Kim Kivens, as co-worker Mrs. Lenox, and Carl Swanson as Doug and a couple of other small roles, complete the cast, both doing their reliably strong performances.

Sandford Moore conducts a tight seven-piece band that churns out Gwon's rock score like they've long been playing gigs together. Mini Kinukawa's set design ingeniously conjures up images of the deep woods that are a crucial element of Macbeth, and manipulates them to become the iconic logo of McBeth's burger bonanza. Interiors of the diner and other settings are well-conceived, with scenic elements that roll in and out. Zamora Simmons-Stiles costumes are straight out of a photo album from the 1970s, which in itself can't help but bring more humor to the production, with an assist by Emma Gustafson's hair and wig designs. Lighting (Grant E. Merges) and sound (Kevin Springer) are up to Theater Latté Da's typical high standards.

While Shakespeare's original addresses the tragic flaw of unhinged ambition, this new iteration addresses the wage and power gap between an unfeeling owner class on top and the grunt-workers on the bottom, though if one were to try to discern a moral, it would be that trying to change that power structure is a lost cause.

We can assume that Mitnick, Gwon, and Price are revisiting Scotland, PA (which received mixed reviews during its 2019 off-Broadway run) with hopes of boosting its future life on the regional theatre circuit, perhaps even a return to New York. Having not seen the prior production, I cannot comment on how much improved it is (Gwon has commented that, at least musically, the show is about 30% new). What is on view in the Rothstein auditorium at Latté Da's home base Ritz Theater, is an engaging, entertaining musical that will especially appeal to audiences who enjoy a hard rock sound (it is loud, and ear plugs are available from the ushers), good-natured satiric spins on the iconography of modern life (in this case, the ubiquity of a drive-through culture), stylish staging and some ace performances.

Scotland, PA runs through October 20, 2024, at Theater Latté Da, Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please visit theaterlatteda.com or call 612-339-3303.

Book: Michael Mitnick, based on a film written by Billy Morrissette; Music and Lyrics: Adam Gwon; Directors: Lonny Price and Matt Cowart; Choreography: Lorin Latarro, Travis Waldschmidt; Music Director: Joshua Zecher-Ross; Scenic Design: Mina Kinukawa Costume Design: Zamora Simmons-Stiles; Lighting Designer: Grant E. Merges; Sound Designer: Kevin Springer; Wigs, Hair and Makeup Design: Emma Gustafson; Props Design: Madelaine Foster; Fight and Intimacy Director: Annie Enneking; Conductor: Sanford Moore; Original Orchestrations: Matt Castle, Frang Galgano; Additional Orchestrations: Joshua Zecher-Ross; Casting Supervisor: Sheena Jansen Kelley; Technical Director: Bethany Reinfeld; Production Stage Manager: Shelby Reddig; Stage Manager: Joelle Coutu; Assistant Stage Manager: Austin Schoenfelder.

Cast: Tara Borman (Stoner Jessie), Diedre Cochran (Stoner Stacey/Brenda), Will Dusek (Mac), Katherine Fried (Pat), Emily Gunyou Halaas (Peg McDuff), Kim Kivens (Mrs. Lenox), Tom Reed (Banko), Matt Riehle (Stoner Hector), Joshua Row (Malcom/Bert, Carl Swanson (Doug/Andy/Gary), Timothy Thomas (Duncan/Ray Crump).