Scott Mills the Musical
August 12, 2009
Musicals are written in all sorts of ways. There’s even going to be one tonight based on a review I’ve written of a non-existent original.
But the likeable Radio One disc jockey Scott Mills has initiated an even more extraordinary method: Scott Mills the Musical has been interactively written with his own listeners after he perpetrated a hoax that he would appear in Edinburgh as a string of showbiz divas.
Instead, he appears as David Hasselhoff, the Baywatch hunk, and a complete nonentity - found in the radio station’s Search for a Scott - plays the DJ.
The unknown, Joe Taylor, is really rather good, and has a pretty good song, too, called My Pinot Grigio. Don’t ask me about the plot: it’s basically about listener power restoring Scott to the turntable after he’s been pushed out by the boss.
The audience at the Pleasance went bonkers at the end of one of only three sold-out performances. Well, they were entitled to; they’d written it.
And Scott modestly plays quite a minor role, most of the Hasselhoff linking narrative spoken by the Hoff himself on pre-recorded video link.
There’s a hilarious Village People spoof, a hint of a Les Miz anthem, and a song about a hat that isn’t quite finished like the one in Sunday in the Park with George.
Jo Whiley, Kylie Minogue and Myleene all take a bow thanks to the resourceful Becky Huxtable; tubby Chris Moyles is given good-natured short shrift; and Guy Lewis is very funny as the big bad boss, especially in his underpants.
I don’t think musical theatre history has been re-written, but you’ve got to applaud the nerve and the verve of an enterprise that has brought the spirit at least of the Edinburgh Festival into the homes of millions of Radio One listeners.
- Michael Coveney
Comments
38 Responses to “Scott Mills the Musical”
Got something to say?
EIF: 14 August-6 September
Advertisement
-
Festival Latest from Guardian.co.uk- Alistair Beaton and Anthony Neilson: double trouble
- How to save money at the Edinburgh festivals
- Most Scottish arts organisations to face deep funding cuts
- Why is Stewart Lee railing against the Edinburgh comedy awards? | Brian Logan
- Could Latitude's theatre arena steal Edinburgh's show? | Alistair Smith
- Festival Latest from Fest Magazine
- Festival Latest from EIF
NOTE: This comment has been removed
Im sorry John but what was that all about. The Fringe is about shows that are different and this show is defiantly different. The show is funny and at the end of the day. That is why people go to see it; Because it is funny. Now your comments are nothing but libelous and i would be unsurprised to hear that you have been sued. And your homophobic remarks definatly show that you need to take a good look at your-self and at society. You are entilteled to your oppinion. But homophobic remarks. Thats out of order.
And By The Way, Love the review
Thanks for a good review! I’m glad the show is being well received and it’s certainly been fun listening to its conception. John Hargreaves, I feel that shouldn’t give your comment a response but frankly, it can’t go unanswered…you ’sir’ are either trying to make a bad joke or are (worryingly) quite serious. Either way, it’s pathetic, rude, unnecessary and says a lot more about you than you think. If all you have to offer are unrelated homophobic remarks then keep them so yourself.
I’ve just sent an e-mail to editors to ask them to remove John Hargreaves remarks.
What an absolute idiot.
I think that anyone involved in getting a show together in such little time deserves a huge cheer. From the sounds of it the show is one of the better things on this year! Lets face it some of the stuff is really quite awful and that’s done by the supossed pro’s/ This ameteur production is backed by the BBC but sounds great from what I have heard on the radio . (Just heard Scott being the Hoff- Ha!!)
This is what the festival should be about!
Hear Hear
*Hargreaves shows how mature he is with a further well thought out and insightful comment*
Why should I? Because I disagree with your pathetic, smal minded homophobic comments?
THE SEXUALITY OF ANY ONE IN TODAYS SOCIETY IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU JOHN
I THINK YO NEED TO TAKE A LONG HARD LOOK AT YOUR SELF SO WHAT IF SOME ONE IS GAY OR LESBIAN BLACK BLUE GREEN PINK ORANGE RED OR WHAT EVER ITS BIGOTS LIKE YOURSELF WHO NEED TO BE LOCKED IN A MENTAL INSTITUTION N THE KEY THROWN AWAY
NOW MOVING ON FROM THAT
CONGRATS TO THE SCOTT MILLS SHOW FOR A FANTASTIC EFFORT TO PUT TO GETHER A SHOW WRITTEN BY THE LISTENERS FOR THE LISTENERS ALTHOUGH NOT ABOUT THE LISTENERS
GOTTA GIVE HIM SO CREDIT I SPOSE
Oops!!!
Have I touched a raw nerve or something?
Why has no-one answered my main points?
May be no-one has answered your points because they have nothing to do with the review of the musical, or the actual musical. If you object so strongly, take it up directly with BBC, then stop paying your licence fee and then run through the streets wearing a sandwich board with your points written on it. I don’t particular care where you choose to express your ‘opinion’ so long as you do it in the appropriate forum (in a dark sound-proofed room preferably…).
No one has answered your “main points” because you don’t actually make any. All your writings say to anyone is that you are a someone that is uneducated and uninteligent enough to rant about their personal objections to a facet of someone, that they know precious litle about, becasue they simply don’t unerstand how the world works. I really don’t care what you think in your own little brain but when you decide to express your diatribe on a public forum you must expect that the majority of people will disagree with you and you need to come back with more inteligent comments than “F@*K OFF”
Also, if you want some comeback on your opening drivel try this; You go into a lot of detail about gay sex fore someone who seems to oppose it so strongly. Not admitting something me thinks?
On a positive note
Just watched the first 2 parts of Scott Mills the Musical on the Radio 1 website and I think it’s great. Such a shame it wont be around this weekend when I get back to the city.
Ok, fair enough…..clearly I am in a minority so perhaps my comments (and all replys to same) may be deleted? eh?
For the record Andrew, I have nothing to be ashamed of….I am concerned about how our society is going, morally etc etc. So there you have it.
Morrally we should be more worried about the high teenage pregnancy rates, knife crime, old age care and huge inner city drug use.
Homophobia is something to be ashamed of morally.
Just watched the first 2 parts of Scott Mills - The Musical and I loved it !
Hilarious, clever and not too serious, I am disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to watch it live !
John Hargreaves, why have you felt it necessary to comment? You have obviously sought out somewhere to post your pre-historic thoughts, if you have no interest in this musical, which you clearly do not, do not set out to find somewhere to post your ill-mannered, uneducated and alarmingly narrow minded opinions. You have clearly set out to cause trouble, leading me to believe that you are a very bored, very isolated and troubled individual. At the end of the day there’s nobody on here agreeing with you, so I suggest you get back to whatever it is that you do, live your life how you want to, and keep your nose out of the way others choose to live theirs.
Please remove the irrelevant and highly offensive posts by John Hargreaves, I can;t believe anyone can behave like this.
I echo the above by lesley. I am highly offended by the original post by John Hargreaves and cannot understand why it has not been removed.
Regarding the musical, I watched the first two sections on the radio 1 site and laughed a lot. I thought it was fabulous. Well done all involved.
Why has Johns comment been removed? Whatever happened to free speech and all that? What was so offensive in his message? I, too, am concerned about the medias instance in the positive protrayal of homosexuals and their so called lifestyle choice.
I am very concerned about our young people and these unhealthy and unnatural influences in that we have to accept that their lifestyle is normal and socially acceptable to the majority of people in this country….it is not by the way.
Whilst I would not have written my comments in the same way as John did, I applaud his courage to make such a public stand.
Just, for the record, you understand.
Unfortunately his comments were irrelevant and offensive so a request was put in for them to be removed. Im all for free speech. However, Opinions should be expressed in responsible way for such a ’sensitive’ topic.
Well done Patricia!
For too long now, anyone who expresses their concerns about the positive promotion of homosexuality upon our young people have been labelled as small minded biggots and are held to be very politically incorrect.
Scott mills and other presenters on the BBC believe that their chosen sexual lifestyle is acceptable to the majority of people in this country and this has been actively promoted within the corporation as a whole. This show should not have been staged with any licence fee monies involved.
The expression of views that run counter to that of the so-called liberal element of our society should not be held to ridicule and derision.
It is still the case, whether the other participants to this forum like it or not, that the active promotion of homosexuality (and those who participate in this behaviour) is quite simply wrong - bottom line.
I wonder if my own thoughts on this matter will attract the same vitriol as Mr. Hargreaves did?
We shall see.
Wow, I’ve just watched the whole show and I loved it!! Sexuality doesn’t come into this. It is a great, funny show. Some great acting and some really funny songs! I loved it and would like to read some actual opinion about the show, not a load of rubbish about the promotion of a sexual preferance! Who cares about sexuality in this day and age anyway! All in all the show was fab! Well done, I would love to have seen it live and well done to Joe, what an excellent job he did!
I cannot believe a thread about the show has been turned into a anti/pro gay forum. For the record, most people I speak to who listern to Scott’s show did not even know he is gay. He doesn’t force it down your throat, he just tries to entertain his listerners. As for the show, it echos his radio show, humour and entertainment. Let’s keep any anti or pro homophobic comments out of what is a very good review.
I did not manage to read John Hargreaves comments as they were removed before i got on this page, but to Patricia Robinson, Sean Rafferty and John Hargreaves,
What’s so wrong with being gay? In what way does it harm you?
And having seen the show live, i fail to see how it is actively promoting homosexuality.
Patricia, you say,
I, too, am concerned about the medias instance in the positive protrayal of homosexuals and their so called lifestyle choice.
What would you rather? A front page of every newspaper denouncing gays and driving them out of the country?
Your comments are small minded and it’s people like you who keep this country moving backwards and reinforcing old stereotypes.
Well, David, who are you to label anyone small minded, eh?
Could it be that there is a silent majority out there in this country that, whether you like it or not, actually believes with Johns and Patricias point of view?
Mos tof us would rather that the ‘clock ‘ was turned back a few years and that the recent laws were a step too far.
My understanding is that this attitude is out there and is a privately held, although politically incorrect, belief that runs counter to your own.
Dear Sean
What has that got to do with the musical. If you want to keep going on about your neo nazi views, then please find somewhere else to do it. There are hundreds of straight people who have killed, mugged, abused and made the good people of the worlds lives a misery. If all you want to do is criticize a small minority of people that on the whole don’t do any harm, unless you count a morbid fasination with the Eurovision Song Contest a crime. Please lighten up.
I came on this website to read the review as I have been listening to the Radio 1 drive time show and “Scott Mills the Musical” has been sounding a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, considering it was a tongue in cheek, last minute job to get a show ready for the fringe festival. However reading the comments has been more interesting than the review. I can’t quite grasp some peoples trail of thought and how sexuality has anything to do with the review but I have a question:
Patricia Robinson: “I, too, am concerned about the medias instance in the positive protrayal of homosexuals and their so called lifestyle choice.”
Does the Media really protray homosexuals in an any more of a positive image than it does Jordan, Footballers, WAGs etc and their so called lifestlye choices?
Blimey, I just came onto this site to see what other people were writing about the Scott Mills Musical. As an A-Level tutor in theatre studies and English I think It is great that such a great piece of theater can be pulled off in such a short time. I thought the casting was excellent, the script and songs really well written for an amateur production, and the staging simple yet highly effective.
Now, at no point in the musical does it rant and rave about Scott being gay and how it is an effective promotion of homosexuality. I read John Hargreeves original comment before it was taken down and believe me it was nothing short of pure hate. If it was written about an ethnic minority or a religious group, the police would be around at his door. He did not express an opinion but rather went into graphic detail about gay sex and how it was the case of Scott’s parents marriage breaking up.
As a parent of three sons, one daughter and three step sons I can assure you that there is absolutely no choice in being gay. Three of the boys are gay, and all three had real hurdles to overcome when they discovered that they were gay. The oldest, now 26, runs his own manufacturing business, the middle one has just finished his masters in applied physics and the youngest is due to AS Levels in september. I can assure you that when as teenagers they were going through difficult times with their sexuality all I could do was be there for them, day and night.
Sexuality is hard wired in a persons brain, long before they are born, and is not a lifestyle “choice” as keeps being batted around. People who have problems with gay men, lesbians, transexuals and transgender people really live in a very sheltered and sterile world. It takes all sorts to make the world go around and has done for centuries. I have worked in universities all over the world for nearly 40 years now and have researched many aspects of history and you would not believe how well documented Homosexuality is in documents and texts from all over the world from Roman times right up to Victorian times, It is only with the nonsense that came about in the early part of the 20th century that gay culture was forced underground with abominable stereo types such as Larry Grayson and Frankie Howard being “an acceptable homosexual” as they did not threaten the modern view of male sexuality.
I suggest those with opposition to gay men being portrayed in the public eye should try to educate themselves in the ways of the world. What they are saying is akin to racism- prejudice against some one because of who they are.
There truly isn’t a silent majority. What do you want? A reintroduction of Section 28. Or the old faithful “put ‘em on an island”
Welcome to the 21st Century people. What do you want to be scared of? Innocent people or the real threats to society out there? You choose, just make sure you’re happy with your choice!
Dr. Holt,
Whilst being gay may or may not be a matter of ‘choice’ as you put it, surely there is a choice being made when one is offering onself to be violoently buggered and giving oral sex to another man/group of men?
With all due respect, you understand.
What happens between consenting adults in their own homes is nothing of interest to anyone outside of that home. And Buggery really isn’t violent - that would equal rape if it was done with violence.
Go back to beating your wife you redneck Balir
Smith, it is Blair actually, I just typed my surname the wrong way.
Buggery is, by its very nature, a violent act against the persons anus.
Expressing concern about the promotion of those who enjoy homosexual acts is nothing to be ashamed of - quite the reverse really and it is the viewpoint of the majority of people in this country if you follow the opinion polls.
Labelling people who have a differing viewpoint from yours is a form of bulleying, tough guy.
We are still a ‘conservative society’ whether you like it or not.
What a load of twaddle. I’ve just watched Scott Mills The Musical. It is good. I have some consideralbe experience of the arts and this was a show that delivered mainstream music and drama - perfect. Why it should be used as a means to attack a gay lifestyle is beyond me. Its 2009 not 1909. Get real and accept that sexuality is not a disease. Just live and let live.
My goodness I forgot what fun it can be to wind up the homophobic knuckle draggers that can’t even type their own name.
“Buggery is, by its very nature, a violent act against the persons anus.”
- well then so is all penetrative sex tough guy!
And homophobia IS something to be ashamed of, in line with people who have problems with people because of their race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or national origins, religion, gender or disability.
Smith, that is not true as well as you know.
Who was the fake becky? They were all good and deserve credit, especialy the fake chappers. He was spot on!
Ive watched scott mills the musical twice now, and i have to say its brilliant! but i was completely shocked by the comments i found on this website! at no point did i ever think it had to do with homosexuality or its promotion, what i feel by reading these comments is that those who expressed negative comments without merit were doing so on a baised thought level. They have their opinions and nothing is going to change them. I for one did not know scott was gay and ive been listening to him for 3 years now, and now that i know he might be, it does not change anythin, he is still the same old scott and his musical is ace, that is the plain and simple facts of it, so get over it guys
The fact is, whether the minority in this country like to hear it or not, is that homosexuality is unnatural and deeply offensive to the majority of people in this country.
No amount of ‘knuckle dragging’ remarks will ever change that.
[…]www.whatsonstage.com is other must see authority of advice. Car insurance claims […]