Forever Plaid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Forever Plaid is an off-Broadway musical comedy written in New York in 1990 and now performed internationally. The critically acclaimed show is an affectionate revue of the close-harmony "guy groups" (e.g. The Four Aces, The Four Freshmen) that reached the height of their popularity during the 1950s. It was performed on April 22, 1990 at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. [1]. The Downstairs Cabaret has made its mark in the Rochester NY community since 1983 by producing a diverse offering of musicals and plays. Mostly known locally and nationally for developing Nunsense and producing the world premiere of Forever Plaid, the DCT has always been an important player in the development of new works.

Personifying the clean-cut genre are the Plaids. This quartet of high-school chums' earnest dreams of recording an album ended in death (literally and indeed, symbolically) in a collision with a bus filled with Catholic schoolgirls on their way to see the Beatles' American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The play begins with the Plaids returning from the afterlife for one final chance at musical glory.

The songs they sing during the course of the musical include: "Three Coins in the Fountain"; "Undecided"; "Gotta Be This or That"; "Moments to Remember"; "Crazy 'Bout Ya, Baby"; "No, Not Much"; "Sixteen Tons"; "Chain Gang"; "Perfidia"; "Cry"; "Heart and Soul"; "Lady of Spain"; "Scotland the Brave"; "Shangri-La"; "Rags to Riches"; and "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing".

The original cast included Jason Graae (Sparky); Stan Chandler (Jinx); David Engel (Smudge); and Guy Stroman (Frankie). The musical opened May 20, 1990 at Steve McGraw's in New York City after engagements at The West Bank Cafe, The American Stage Company and The Wisdom Bridge Theatre. Musical arrangements, vocal arrangements and musical direction were by James Raitt; the show was written, directed, and choreographed by Stuart Ross.

It is currently being produced as a motion picture for release "soon" (as of November 17, 2006). [2]

[edit] Sequels

The Pasadena Playhouse, famous for its versions of the original, ran a sequel called Plaid Tidings, a holiday version with modified story and songs. Plaid Tidings will be produced by Neptune Theatre (Halifax) of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in December of 2008.