Are you looking for something to enhance your holiday mood? Studio Arena's production of Stuart Ross' "Plaid Tidings" can do just that.
A follow-up to the popular "Forever Plaid," this time it is set during the holiday season.
The group returns from the hereafter to put on their four-part harmonious renditions of oldies from the 1950s. They did the same thing in the original, but this performance is laced with old and familiar Christmas music.
Ever since we were first introduced to this boy band in the first production, they have been among the dearly departed.
As the story goes, Sparky, Smudge, Jinx and Frankie were en route to pick up their custom-made plaid tuxedos that they were to wear at their first-ever gig when, lo and behold, they were broadsided by a school bus filled with teen-age girls on their way to see the Beatles make their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. The girls, it seems, escaped unscathed, but the four boys were instantly killed.
In "Forever Plaid," they return to earth because their one favor is granted, to return and perform that first gig.
In "Plaid Tidings," they don't really know why they have been permitted to return to earth, but never mind small details.
They instantly begin singing "Earth Angel" and never stop singing throughout a performance that lasts (with one intermission) for two hours and 15 minutes. In that time, they cram in as much holiday fare as possible, sometimes with very abbreviated versions in medley form.
The boys are depicted as squeaky-clean nerds from the conservative Eisenhower era, the kind, as said in "Forever Plaid," that in their spare time hang out with the audio-visual crowd in high school.
Throughout, they have very synchronized moves and dance steps, all very jerky and anything but cool, but the Plaids are meant to be the antithesis of cool.
Paul Binotto, Paul Castree, Jeff Church and John Scherer, who play the four boys, do a fine job.
Binotto, who plays Jinx, is a veteran of "Forever Plaid." He has played the show from New York to Tokyo and has actually performed it for the president at the White House.
The Studio Arena's performance of "Plaid Tidings" is unique in that it can boast that it is directed by Tony Award nominee Stuart Ross, who, in addition, wrote both plays.
He has staged over 50 productions of the show, in New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston, as well as Tokyo and London.
The forever-popular "Forever Plaid" has to date been performed in over 100 cities throughout the world.
The near-capacity Sunday matinee audience gave the performance a standing ovation.
A woman leaving the theater said she enjoyed "Plaid Tidings" because it brought back so many memories, something music is indeed capable of doing.
But that also is the purpose of this musical, and all who remember Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney will enjoy the nostalgia it provokes.
"Plaid Tidings" remains on stage at the Studio Arena Theatre through Dec. 28 with shows every day except Mondays and Dec. 25 and 26.
Tickets can be purchased at the Studio Arena box office at 710 Main St. in Buffalo, by calling 856-5650 or 1-800-STAGE or via their Web site at www.studioarena.org.
Tickets range in price from $29 to $36.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 16 2003 |