Forever Plaid
Strand Theatre
through May 22, 2022

While this is one that resonates profoundly with the AARP crowd, it is one that audiences of any age will enjoy. Come back to the 1950’s and 60’s when we had maybe 3 or 4 TV channels, and we gathered to watch Milton Berle or Ed Sullivan as a group each week. It was a time when there were quite a few male quartet harmony groups doing their numbers. And high-schoolers thought it was a real expericnce to make out in the back seat of that Chevy.

The night that those four young men from England were about to debut on the Ed Sullivan show, one of the harmony four were rammed by a school bus heading to the show. Alas, none of the four survived. Stuart Ross created this show, which played in NYC from 1989 tgo 1994, and was later adapted into a film in 2009.

Caleb Brink (Frankie), John Jenkins (Jinx), Zander Krenger (Smudge) and Keenan Rogers (Sparky) come on as the singers. They wanted to perform with plaid costumes and they come back from the afterlife to be forever plaid and sing their numbers. With Kevin Sanders on the keys and Drew Lloyd on bass, they run through more than two dozen numbers in a cabaret style setting, and you can clap your hands, click your fingers and sing along as you wish.

Directed by Cindi Costoulas there are two acts, and in the second act they camp things up really well as they are imagining performing on a variety show, and they’ll bring back many old time performers schticks that most of us will recall.

The show is presented at the Strand Theatre on Marietta Square. Open parking may be hard to find but the garage is right across the street from the theatre. They have good seats with good views, lots of concession goodies and it is a very entertaining couple of hours with no ads or politicians. Could it get much better? More info and tickets at EarlSmithStrand.org