Heavenly singing will make you smile
Forever Plaid
(out of 4) Written and originally directed and choreographed by Stuart Ross. Directed and choreographed by Dayna Tekatch. Until June 12, Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge St. mirvish.com or 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-3333 Who knew purgatory could be so pleasant?
Least of all, I suspect, would be the Plaids, the quartet of song-loving geeks who stage one last concert en route to the Pearly Gates, a last chance to savour a success they likely never would have achieved had they survived the auto accident that snuffed them.
It’s actually a clever nod to the end of the middle-of-the-road vocal harmony groups that had their runs permanently stifled in the early1960s by the arrival of the Beatles. The campy performance of the Beatles’ “She Loves You” midway through the show by Frankie, Jinx, Sparky and Smudge is a revelatory wink at how oblivious they were to their younger audiences’ tastes.
But their overall innocence is just part of the charm of Forever Plaid, a Toronto favourite that graces the stage of the Panasonic for the first time in 20 years.
There is much to recommend this current production, directed by Stratford Festival and National Arts Centre vet Dayna Tekatch, who keeps the flow light and airy.
First, there is the heavenly singing of the cast: Steve Carell ringer Jeff Madden as Jinx, Scott Beaudin as Sparky, Jonathan Cullen as Frankie and Matt Cassidy as the baritone Smudge.
Backed by the able musicianship of pianist Mark Camilleri, bassist Pat Kilbride and drummer Steve Heathcote, the Plaids deliver intricately woven four-part harmonies with enviable skill; some of them were breathtakingly admirable on such ’50s classics as “Three Coins in the Fountain” and “Scotland the Brave.”
Tekatch’s choreography also favours the actors, dishing out moves that kept the performance visuals fresh and novel and, at times, humourous.
One of the more challenging aspects of a musical such as this, which dips into hokey territory more often than not, is retaining a tightrope balance between ham and cheese. The production was better when numbers such as the Caribbean Plaid medley, which included “Day-O” and “Jamaica Farewell,” allowed the ridiculously hatted Plaids to be extremely silly.
Also brilliant: a three-and-a-halfminute re-enactment of The Ed Sullivan Show, a ’50s and ’60s TV variety show that was a staple of more innocent times.
The acting didn’t work so well during some of the more serious moments, where the fromage factor made you feel like you were watching actors in a theatre instead of losing yourself in the moment.
But this is one of those productions where you pretty much know what you’re getting as soon as you walk into the theatre: frothy family entertainment with a few double entendres that adults will pick up on but will fly over kids’ heads.
It’s a 90-minute, no-intermission novelty that will leave you smiling and pondering which relative to bring to a future performance.