Staff Reports | Happenings & Events
The Phoenix Theatre Company will open its 2025–26 season with the regional premiere of The Roads to Loch Lomond, running from Wednesday, Oct. 8, to Sunday, Nov. 2, in the Hormel Theatre.
The musical reunites Maggie Herskowitz (book and lyrics) and Neil Douglas Reilly (composer), under the direction and choreography of Mr. Jeff Whiting, for an emotional story rooted in Scottish folk tradition. The production explores themes of love, loyalty and the cost of freedom, according to a press release.
Developed in part with Phoenix audiences during the theatre’s Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre earlier this year, the work now returns fully staged, inviting audiences to experience its journey from workshop to opening night, the release states.
“When Maggie and I began writing musicals together in Boston more than fifteen years ago, it was only natural that I sang her my family’s history, starting with ‘The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks O’ Loch Lomond,’” said Mr. Reilly. “We have traveled many roads since 2010, and they have led us here, sharing my family’s fables with you in The Roads to Loch Lomond.”
Inspired by Mr. Reilly’s MacKenzie ancestry and the reverberations of the 1745 Jacobite rising, the musical imagines the story behind the haunting Scottish ballad known around the world. Set in the aftermath of the uprising, the story follows two intertwined families navigating loyalty, love and survival as their community is reshaped by war and exile.
“Our history has been handed down in stories and songs,” Mr. Reilly said. “This musical is one way of singing that history forward.”
The cast includes Ms. Cassie Chilton*, Mr. Jeffrey Kringer*, Ms. Carmiña Monserrat and Mr. Gianni Palmarini*. Understudies and swings include Ms. Krista Monaghan and Mr. Josh Pike. (*Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.)
