View highlights from “Forever Plaid.”
Many a beloved artist or band has been cut down in their prime by the perils of automobile or airplane travel, but no group has taken its demise in stride as well as The Plaids, the four-part harmony guy group that emulated the clean-cut style of the 1950s and early ’60s. The unlucky quartet was killed in a bus accident while on the way to their first big gig in 1964. But, thankfully, The Plaids have one last chance to perform the show that never was in a kind of musical limbo that just so happens to be on the PCPA Theaterfest stage.
Forever Plaid is an off-Broadway musical revue penned by Stuart Ross in 1990 that has gained much popularity since its premiere, thanks to the play’s treatment of the close-harmony guy group genre that had its heyday in the 1950s. The show is wonderfully intimate, with no fourth wall burdening the characters who interact with the audience from beginning to end. Each of the four characters—Frankie, Smudge, Sparky, and Jinx—reveals himself more with each song, thus uncovering the multi-layered personalities that make up The Plaids.
The four actors who play Frankie, Jinx, Smudge, and Sparky—Jeff Parker, Nick Tubbs, Richie Ferris, and Kyle Smith, respectively—are all musical theater veterans, and they have the pipes to prove it. Several have experience singing in close-harmony doo-wop groups as well, and it can be heard. From Ferris’ powerfully low bass to Tubbs’ high tenor lines, the harmonies are on lock, woven as intricately and carefully as the plaid garments the group dons throughout the show.
What immediately begins to stand out about The Plaids is each of the unique personalities that evolve throughout the show. Ferris’ hilarious stage fright and awkwardness as Smudge is accented by Frankie (Parker), who seems cool and collected, until he gets an asthma attack. Jinx (Tubbs) breaks through his shell throughout the show, when not interrupted by his chronic nosebleeds. Each individual’s idiosyncrasies color the threads that make up the whole, and as one The Plaids are truly embodied and given voice by the four.
PCPA Theaterfest’s use of live musicians to accompany the group—musical director and pianist Mark Robertshaw and bassist Brian Lanzone—is a great touch, and—like the recent production Always, Patsy Cline—is absolutely necessary for the quality and intimacy of the production. And don’t be surprised when members of The Plaids pull out instruments and lend more than just their voices to the show because these polymath performers have more than a few tricks up their plaid clad sleeves.
The scenic and lighting design of the show elicits the feeling of the Golden Generation’s heyday, complete with stained wood and blue spotlights, but also illustrates The Plaids’ current existence in a semi-celestial state. The sound design by Chuck Hatcher keeps all of the singers in perfect balance—something of utmost importance to harmony singing.
PCPA Theaterfest resident artist and casting director Erik Stein’s personality is also apparent in the show, from the group’s plucky humor to moments of serious gravitas. The theme of the show is that when individuals come together for the love of art, they can truly create something larger than themselves. Whether it’s The Plaid’s crisp harmonies or the conglomeration of performers, technicians, and designers at PCPA Theaterfest, the message rings true in Forever Plaid.
Arts Editor Joe Payne enjoys both woven threads and melodies. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
ALWAYS AND FOREVER: Clips from Forever Plaid courtesy of PCPA Theaterfest.
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This article appears in Jul 10-17, 2014.
