L-R: Jeff Whiting (Director), Maggie Herskowitz (Book & Lyrics), Neil Douglas Reilly (Composer & Orchestrator)
History doesn’t fade. It lingers in songs, stories, and the choices of those who lived and lost long before us.
After a production at Open Jar Studios in NYC, The Roads to Loch Lomond returns to Phoenix, last seen here at our Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre, now fully staged for The Phoenix Theatre Company’s 2025/26 Season.
The journey of this musical mirrors the story it tells, one of resilience, reinvention, and survival across generations.
Inspired by the legend behind Scotland’s most famous ballad, The Roads to Loch Lomond blends a Celtic-influenced score with an intimate family drama. As rebellion collides with duty, two brothers must weigh freedom, loyalty, and love against the shadow of sacrifice.
Behind this story is a team of artists whose own paths are as layered as the history they’re bringing to the stage.
Jeff Whiting (Director)
Jeff Whiting has built a career that moves easily between Broadway blockbusters and brand-new works. He’s served as Resident Director on productions like Bullets Over Broadway, The Scottsboro Boys, Big Fish, Hair, and Young Frankenstein, and he’s toured nationally with shows including Hairspray and The Producers.
Whiting has a long history of developing new musicals, from Fly More Than You Fall to Chasing Rainbows, and even staged Singin’ in the Rain right here at The Phoenix Theatre Company.
Beyond directing, he’s also an innovator – founding Stage Write Software, Open Jar Studios, and the Stage Door Foundation, and even delivering a TEDx Talk about the intersections of art and technology.
Maggie Herskowitz (Book & Lyrics)
Writer, actress, and scientist who refuses to stay in one lane, Maggie Herskowitz has penned musicals like The Roads to Loch Lomond, Between Gods and Kings, and Princess Ten Ten and the Dark Skies, while her plays have been developed in Los Angeles and New York with organizations such as the Drama League and Public Assembly. Her storytelling doesn’t stop at the stage.
She’s contributed to award-winning video games like the Monster Prom series and the Borderlands franchise, and her work in film and TV includes Rival Peak with Wil Wheaton.
Herskowitz also holds a master’s degree in International Animal Welfare, Ethics, and Law from the University of Edinburgh, and shares her love of science and animals through her YouTube channel, Mad About Animals Mags.
Neil Douglas Reilly (Composer & Orchestrator)
Neil Douglas Reilly has been collaborating with Herskowitz for over fifteen years, creating scores for musicals like The Roads to Loch Lomond and Between Gods and Kings. His orchestrations have been heard on Broadway in Ahrens & Flaherty’s Rocky, at the Kennedy Center with Little Dancer, and internationally on Boublil & Schönberg’s concert tour Do You Hear the People Sing?.
His career has also taken him beyond the arts, once serving as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Lieutenant Governor of New York, working on issues of affordability and criminal justice.
Today, he is a postulant for priesthood in the Episcopal Church and the prior of the Society of the Siblings at Bethany, where he lives with his partner, Taylor. His Scottish roots run deep, his ancestors, the MacKenzies, emigrated to America after the Jacobite uprisings.
Event Details
What: The Roads to Loch Lomond
When: October 8 – November 2, 2025
Where: The Phoenix Theatre Company, Hormel Theatre, 1825 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004
Tickets: Available at www.phoenixtheatre.com or by calling the Box Office at (602) 254-2151
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