Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Theater Forever Plaid Forever Plaid If you want to relive the 50s, Forever Plaid is the play to see. It is a hilarious musical that rocks and rolls its way through the "magical era" of the 50s. Written by Stuart Ross, music by James Raitt, and directed by Daniel Siford, Forever Plaid is the story of four high school friends who are starting a four-part harmony group named Forever Plaid. They then "miss" their first performance because of a car crash while on route to pick up plaid tuxedos for their show. Daniel Siford, Joe Pedulla, Billy Sharpe, and Allie Laurie bring this story of the death of the group Forever Plaid to life. This fun and funny musical plays its way through all the hubbub and hilarity of the 50s, including a spoof on the Ed Sullivan show, and sings its way through some of the greatest hits like "Shangri-La" and "No, Not Much. Forever Plaid uses tongue-in-cheek symbolism behind the quartet's untimely end. Popular music was about to blossom in radical new directions, leaving clean-cut harmonizers like the Four Lads and Four Aces in the dust. It begins with the bow-tied boys in white dinner jackets wandering through the audience, candles in hand and chanting a shaky "sha-boom" or two. They are shaken and confused by what the fates have done to them, nervously eyeing the audience as they stumble about trying to synchronize their clumsy choreography and uncertain four-part harmonies. The out-of-fashion and fictitious Plaids, lovable losers who met in their high school audio-visual club, may have been killed instantly -- a taped voice-over tells the tale as the room darkens -- but a mystical and mysterious time warp hauls them back to earth. Their quest is to perform the perfect show that always eluded the reach of their dubious talents. If they complete their mission, the men in plaid can return in peace to their place in the cosmos. But it won't come easy. Each questionably talented Plaid has a flaw, be it jittery nerves, indigestion, a slight speech impediment or the inability to tell his left from his right. Over the next 90 minutes, they sang segments of vintage songs that dominated the airwaves in the late 1950s and early '60s. But there's more to the show than just hearing well-sung versions of nostalgic tunes such as "Cry," "Day-O" and "Jamaica Farewell." It's about pursuing dreams no matter the odds, and audiences seem to revel in the lads' slow and often awkward transformation from bumbling geeks to confident performers. All the vocals are live and the audience joins the singing actors on an engaging journey back to a more innocent era when chaperoned teen-agers sought dreamy-eyed romance at the high school prom. As the play unfolds, the Plaids begin to find their confidence and footing onstage. Songs such as Hoagy Carmichael's "Heart and Soul," Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" and "Moments to Remember" reveal increasing vocal strength and stage savvy. The increasingly assured boys even turn in a manic, prop-laden comic tribute to the odd range of acts that played the Sullivan show, racing about the stage as jugglers and Viking-helmeted opera singers among other characters. The concluding moment is when the group sings faultlessly "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing." The show's wistful undertones and sympathy for the Plaids' plight give way to belated success and thunderous applause from appreciative audiences. Bibliography: Word Count: 561
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