“Forever Plaid” reviewed by Cary Vierra

**** I have attended a lot of theater with Frank and Al, but this is the first time I have been asked to put my thoughts down for others to read. My sister and I were to have met Al and Jane at The Skokie Theatre last night for their presentation of “Forever Plaid”, but they ended up doing Ravinia ( see articles for the review), so here I am, telling you my thoughts about this zany little show that is a tribute to the boy’s bands of the 50’s and 60’s.

“Forever Plaid” was written by Stuart Ross ( he was the original director/choreographer when it first appeared on a stage as well) and tells the story of four guys,  Smudge ( (Nick Arceo), Frankie ( Sean M.G. Caron), Sparky ( Elijah McTiernan) , and Jinx (Taelon Stonecipher). They have been practicing their songs in hopes of getting that break. Will they get to do their songs?  The music is memorable and the homage to the Ed Sullivan Show ( you have to be of a certain age to truly appreciate this). Some of the songs of note: “16 Tons”, “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” and of course, some Beatles music ( we loved that part).

The have some fun with the audience as well, bringing an audience member onstage to play the piano- “Chopsticks” is what we got- very cute! This production is directed by Edward Lindem with musical direction by Jeremy Ramey. The tech portions were right on! Lighting ( Pat Henderson), sound ( Ethan Patterson) and costumes (Wendy Kaplan). The Skokie Theatre is an intimate space so the audience is up close and  gets to feel as if the fourth wall is invisible. As I said at the start, this is not my usual “thing”, but we wanted to let you know before you miss the opportunity-

“Forever Plaid” will play:

June 20- June 29  with performances:
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm
Sundays at 2:00 pm
Wed. Matinee on June 25 at 1:30 pm

ALL SEATS ONLY $30

The theatre is located at 7924 Lincoln Avenue ( downtown Skokie).

For tickets call847-677-7761 or visit www.SkokieTheatre.org

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Forever Plaid”.