The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Little comfort or joy in ART Station’s ‘Plaid Tidings’
A willing suspension of disbelief goes with the territory in the holiday sequel “Plaid Tidings” (conceived and written by Stuart Ross), as was the case in the initial jukebox revue “Forever Plaid”: The youthful members of a harmonizing 1960s quartet known as the Plaids are killed in a fateful bus accident before they ever get to make a name for themselves, but in a return engagement from the afterlife, they’re given a chance to perform in concert and realize their dreams.
While the premise is innocuous enough, in director Karen Beyer’s lethargically paced staging for Stone Mountain’s ART Station, there’s really no mistaking her overage, overgrown cast as credible heartthrobs of the ’60s teeny-bopper set. Indicative of the production’s general inertia, one of them (Smudge) is portrayed by Ritchie Crownfield, who, shortly before the show opened last weekend, regrettably sustained a knee injury during rehearsals, and thus spends most of his time seated or otherwise immobile.
The remaining Plaids are played by Tony Hayes (Jinx), Robert Mitchel Owenby (Frankie) and Googie Uterhardt (Sparky). Under the music direction of Patrick Hutchison (on piano), they handle the requisite four-part harmony of all the nostalgic songs moderately well — at the very least “in pitch,” as a recurring one-liner puts it — although it’s somewhat ironic that the musical highlight of the evening is probably an entertaining display of synchronized bell-ringing that has nothing to do with singing anyway.
After a protracted rehash of events from “Forever Plaid” — and a lot of fleeting references about the group’s “mission of grave import,” about finding a “higher purpose” and a true “reason to sing” — it isn’t until after intermission that “Plaid Tidings” becomes a full-fledged Christmas revue.
For all of the traditional carols performed in the show, one of the better numbers is a modern hiphop rendition of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Another involves the Plaids’ only claim to so-called fame, as backup singers to Perry Como on a version of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (or, as their part of the song goes, “it’s be… lot like… mas”).
When, in a flimsy “plot” device, the Plaids start receiving cryptic messages from the beyond (courtesy of the late Rosemary Clooney), Sparky quips, “We’re in way over our auras.” (It should be noted that the peerless Uterhardt is shamefully shortchanged here, in that his three lesser co-stars are entrusted with bigger and longer solo routines.)
“Plaid Tidings” likely wouldn’t be complete without a bit of audience participation, not to mention the obligatory singalong. And, as in “Forever Plaid,” the sequel reprises an homage to “The Ed Sullivan Show,” in which the actors frantically embody everyone from the Vienna Boys Choir and the Rockettes to the Flying Wallendas and the Chipmunks.
My recollection of seeing the original show (some 20-plus years ago) isn’t particularly vivid, except that I remember enjoying it. As it often happens, though, and to quote one of the Plaids, at best this sequel ranks “as Formica is to marble.”