Hippodrome's "Plaid" re-creates sounds of joy

Arline Greer
Sun Theater Critic

There’s a lot to be said for simplicity.  “Forever Plaid,” Stuart Ross’ musical revue at the Hippodrome, isn’t “Oklahoma,” “West Side Story,” or even “Side by Side by Sondheim.”  It doesn’t need to be.  With Marion J. Caffey directing, this unpretentious show gives 90 minutes of pure musical pleasure that warms the heart with simple, direct innocence.
 “Forever Plaid,”  which has gained something of a cult following since its 1990 debut, follows the career of four young men who, in the 1950’s, aspired to singing careers like those of The Four Aces and The Four Lads.  Unfortunately, on the eve of getting their big break, they were killed when they collided with a bus full of teen-agers en route to a Beatles concert.
 Through the miracles of time warping, planetary configuration and just plain fantasitical ingenuity, they are brought back to life and given another chance to perform for us, the big-time audience.
 Francis [Frankie,] Smudge, Sparky and Jinx are an endearing foursome who tug at our heartstrings from the moment they appear on stage.  Nervous hypchondriacs and amateurs, they don’t quite believe their good fortune any more than can believe in the ability to put on a professional show.
 As the production builds with one familiar number following another, the group gains confidence. They’re funy, sweet nad boyishly charming.  Playing the four are Daniel Siford as Frankie, Richard Rowan as Smudge, Cameron Clarke Stevens as Sparky and Chad Hudson as Jinx.  Each performer acts, sings and dances with a precise sense of his own individuality, creating a separate character from the others.  Remarkably, they perform as a smooth ensemble, totally together in the grand tradition of the barbershop quartet.
 Their songs light up the road to Memory Lane.  Who can forget “Three Coin the Fountain,” “Moments to Remember,” “Perfidia,” “Cry,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Heart and Soul,” “Rags to Riches,” and “Love is a Many Splendored Thing?”
 The foursome recreates memories of 1950’s proms, TV’s “Perry Como Show,” and a deliriously funny send-up of the Ed Sullivan Show complete with its eclectic assortment of opera stars, jugglers and acrobats wildly intertwined.
 The audience is brought into the show with a roaring soundalike medley of such Harry Belafonte favorites as “Day-O” and “Matilda.” Frankie plucks a member of the audience from her seat to play piano for the ever popular “Heart and Soul.”  [Derek Jackson plays piano and Devin Moore plays bass for the production.] 
 There is so much to enjoy in “Forever Plaid,”  its 90 minutes seem to fly by in a moment.  The boys are hardly ready to return to the land of the non-living, and neither is the audience ready to let them go.  Even if you don’t know those 1950’s tunes, you can’t help but feel happy at the Hippodrome’s “Forever Plaid.”

Independent Florida Alligator  June 22, 2000

'Forever Plaid' is satirically precise all-American comedic-musical fare 

                       By Jessica Arnold 
                       "Forever Plaid," now showing at the Hippodrome State
                       Theatre, is an entertaining fun-for-all-ages family show. Set
                       in the idealistic 1950s, it tells the story of a harmonic
                       singing group, Forever Plaid, made up of four
                       goodie-two-shoed young men on their way to their first big
                       gig - that is, until they are killed in a crash by a busload of
                       virginal catholic school girls on their way to a Beatles
                       concert. The mise-en-scene of the play is the gig that
                       awaited them that fateful night, including flashbacks. As
                       they say in show biz, the show must go on ... even in the
                       afterlife. These four eager young singers realize they must
                       perform that much-anticipated show before they can ascend
                       to the pearly white gates. "Forever Plaid" transposes time
                       and place to bring their innocent, good ol' American values
                       to the stage. The harmony of these boys' voices represents
                       the 1950s' collective unconscious toward achieving the
                       American dream, and their deaths represent the end of
                       innocence. The cast is immensely talented and work
                       extremely well as an ensemble. The direction and
                       choreography by Marion J. Caffrey was satirically precise.
                       Each number had a Four Tops-on-Vivarin quality, which
                       added to the overall comedy. "Forever Plaid" should delight
                       any theatergoer who is a fan of musicals. The 90-minute
                       show is comprised of familiar and not-so-familiar harmonic
                       ditties from the '50s, such as "Love is a Many Splendored
                       Thing," "Chain Gang" and a peachy-keen cover of the
                       Beatles' "She Loves You," among others. But some might
                       want to shy away from this one, especially those whose
                       cup of tea is not a good-natured all-American comedic
                       musical. Although "Forever Plaid" was entertaining and had
                       a talented cast, it delivers like a skewed musical version of
                       Sartre's "No Exit." Limbo is not a many splendored thing.