Music Various Artists Book Stuart Ross Playwright Stuart Ross | Lyrics Various Artists Productions 1989 New York City | |
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Similar Big River, Mark Twain Tonight, Forbidden Broadway, I Hate Hamlet, Last of the Red Hot Lovers | ||
Forever plaid the hit off broadway musical the segal centre feb 1 22 2015
Forever Plaid is an Off-Broadway musical revue written by Stuart Ross, and first performed in New York in 1989 and now performed internationally.
Contents
Forever plaid shangri la
Overview
The show is a 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. Personifying the clean-cut genre are the Plaids. This quartet of high-school chums' dreams of recording an album ended in death 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 revue 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".
Productions
The original cast included Jason Graae (Sparky); Stan Chandler (Jinx); David Engel (Smudge); and Guy Stroman (Frankie). The musical opened in November 1989 at Steve McGraw's in New York City, The revue re-opened at McGraw's in May 1990 and closed on June 12, 1994.
The revue had previous engagements at the West Bank Cafe, The American Stage Company at the Becton Theatre (Teaneck, New Jersey in December 1988) and The Wisdom Bridge Theatre (Chicago, Illinois in February 1990).
Musical arrangements, vocal arrangements and musical direction were by James Raitt; the show was written, directed, and choreographed by Stuart Ross.
Motion picture
The play was produced as a motion picture (released on July 9, 2009) starring Chandler and Engel from the original cast, with Larry Raben and Daniel Reichard taking over for Sparky and Francis (Frankie), respectively. David Hyde Pierce guest stars as the narrator. David Snyder served as musical director and pianist. The movie was written and directed by the show's original creator, Stuart Ross, and edited by Oscar and Emmy winner Alan Helm. The performances of "The Golden Cardigan" and "Catch a Falling Star" are notably absent.
Sequels
The Pasadena Playhouse and Neptune Theatre (Halifax), famous for its versions of the original, ran a sequel called Plaid Tidings, a holiday version with modified story and songs. The Pasadena engagement premiered in November 2001, and ran again in December 2002. The Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote that the musical is "enormously entertaining feel-good fare...Plaid Tidings, however, significantly expands upon the original model, its self-contained ethos of sunny homage augmented with flashes of pathos and larger point." Plaid Tidings made its New York City debut at the York Theatre Company at St. Peter's in December 2015.
It is available for licensing through Music Theatre International.
A version for high schools, The Sound of Plaid: Forever Plaid School Version, is being created by Music Theatre International.