Reflection on a pair of area productions as the curtain falls

Friday, March 2, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

"Forever Plaid" faded to black Wednesday night at the Flamingo Las Vegas.

Whether it will be forever black remains to be seen.

The show's producer, Richard Martini, says he is not optimistic that "Plaid" will be resurrected in Las Vegas any time soon. So after six years and 3,718 performances, the nostalgic musical has become a page in Las Vegas entertainment history.

Following the 10 p.m. performance in Bugsy's Celebrity Theatre, the stage was struck and a new set put in place for the next show that will occupy the venue, the improvisational troupe Second City (which begins its run Tuesday night).

"Forever Plaid" is about four singers killed in a car wreck on Feb. 9, 1964, en route to pick up the custom-made plaid tuxedos they were going to wear in their act. The singers are caught between heaven and Earth, and while in limbo existence they sing about 30 songs popular in the 1950s.

Six actors rotated roles in the show. Each performed eight shows per week.

Normally only four cast members appear in each show. For the final song of the final performance, the two actors not in the night's rotation joined their fellow Plaids onstage to sing "Love is a Many Splendored Thing."

When the song ended, the packed house stood in unison and gave the cast and crew one of the longest ovations it has received in its lengthy run.

As the applause subsided flowers were handed to the six performers and out of the showroom's sound system came the voices of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, singing "Happy Trails to You."

Douglas Frank (who alternated between playing Frankie and Smudge) has been in the cast for five years, the longest tenure among the actors.

"I still enjoy doing it," he said, jokingly adding, "I've done it so long I don't know if I can do anything else at this point."

Matt Kubicek, who plays with Jinx, has been with the show on two occasions. He returned to the cast about three months ago, knowing there was a strong chance the show's run would end.

"I wanted to be in on the closing," he said.

Ken Allan Phillips (Smudge) was with the show about five months, and during that time became very attached to the group. His voice cracked as he spoke.

"It's a very special show, pivotal in many of our lives. It helped us all in certain ways, not just our careers," he said. " 'Plaid' will always carry a really special meaning, and it's hard to get past that emotionally."

Martini said at a gathering earlier this week for the cast, crew and supporters of the show, "We have no plans at this point at all. In the last six years the town has changed a lot. As we all know, it's become very corporate and very bottom line.

"My feeling has always been that the hotel has to support its entertainment, and they're not anymore. Until that changes, I'm not sure of my interest in sticking around here."

Martini said "Forever Plaid" was killed by four-walling, a lease agreement in which a hotel rents space to a production company. Although four-walling is the rule rather than the exception in Las Vegas today, Martini did not want any part of the arrangement.

"I think that kind of corporate mentality will change," Martini said. "It might take several years, but it will change. This is supposed to be the entertainment capital of the world, but today's corporate executives put entertainment somewhere down on the bottom."

Singer Clint Holmes, who has his own show at Harrah's, was among those who attended the final performance. He said he was sorry to see it close.

"I saw it in New York eight years ago, and I don't remember it being this much fun," he said. "It's a wonderful show."

'Hocus Pocus'

In a twist of fate, comic magician Fielding West's "Hocus Pocus" show at the Lady Luck closed the same night as "Plaid." There were rumors earlier that "Plaid" was going to replace West at the downtown venue, but the deal fell through.

After a contract disagreement with the hotel, West decided to take his show elsewhere. He isn't sure yet where he will next materialize.

"I'm negotiating with two hotels," West, who was at Lady Luck for nine months, said. "Whoever gets closest to what I want, I will go with that. Meanwhile in a couple of weeks I will get on a cruise ship for the first time in 15 years (to perform). I will be in the Caribbean for a week."

West has been performing his unusual brand of magic locally for more than 20 years.

"I tell everyone if you want to see good comedy illusion, see Penn & Teller. They are close friends. I'm a one-man Penn & Teller," he said.

West arrived in Las Vegas in 1980 and lived in his car on Rancho Drive for two weeks, because his manager at the time lost all of West's money at the craps tables.

"My assistant, who was my first wife, and I slept in the front seat of an old Cadillac. In the back seat were the snakes and birds I used in my act," he said. "We would sleep there at night till the police made us move. Every day they made us move the car. All the cops knew my story."

He credits Liberace with rescuing him. West dropped by (uninvited) at an event at the Tropicana and ran into a roomful of celebrities, which included the famed pianist.

"I told him I was living in my car on Rancho," West recalled. "He said, 'What road are you living on? I live out there.' "

Liberace arranged for him to try out for a talent showcase, and from that West landed a job at the now-defunct Mint hotel-casino.

West has played at every major hotel that has been imploded, among them the original Aladdin (from March 1988-90, his longest run), Dunes, Hacienda, Sands and Silver Slipper.

In April the Fox Family Channel (Cox cable channel 37) will air an hourlong comedy and magic special starring West, produced last year by Monte Carlo magician Lance Burton.

The day the music died

While West sees some humor in the fact that his show and "Plaid" closed at the same time ("We're both closing and neither of us will be at Lady Luck," he says), the mood within the "Plaid" camp is a little more somber.

Michael Dotson, one of four members of the ensemble cast, uttered a line as his character, Frankie, near the end of the 90-minute show. The words were spoken as the Plaids realized it was time to complete their journey to heaven.

"As much as I don't want to, I know it's time to leave," Frankie said to his fellow characters.

The sentiments were those of the cast and crew, as well.

Family ties

As the night of the final curtain drew near, those associated with the show expressed feelings of both sadness and joy -- they were sad that their family of friends was breaking up, but happy that the show was leaving before audiences grew tired of it.

"I'm very sad to see it go, very sad," sound engineer David Weinberg said. "This is a great show, a phenomenal show. It's been very enjoyable. The show has been sold out almost every night.

"My plans for the future? As for me, I'm with the hotel, and so I stay on and do the next (show). But if the Plaids find another venue and offer benefits and pay that's acceptable, I would go with them."

Weinberg was with the show for two years. Lighting technician Jim Jones was with it for three years and saw about 1,700 performances.

"I'm still not tired of it," Jones said. "I've worked on a lot of other shows that, after three or four performances, you're tired of it and it just becomes a job that you have to do. But this one, you look forward to it."

Stage manager Nathan Frye has been with the show from the beginning, and has seen almost all of the performances from the room's lighting booth.

"I've never been bored by it," Frye said. "A lot of times you watch the audience. I have fun watching the teens come in in their formal wear, not knowing what the show is going to be and then getting into it. It's phenomenal. They are teenagers, and this play is (about music) before their time and they end up loving it.

"I watch old couples in the audience (who) end up cuddling, and they probably haven't cuddled in 20 years."

Going national

Frye said he plans to take a break and may join a national tour by a road show of "Forever Plaid" this summer.

"If we can pick this show up in Las Vegas in the next couple of months, I will go with it," he said. "It has not run its course. We're packed almost every night six years later. We still get the same audience response today that we got six years ago."

Johna Campbell has seen about as many shows as Frye. She has been one of the showroom's cocktail waitresses since the play opened.

"It's exciting to see them get a standing ovation every single night," Campbell said. "A lot of people have seen the show 25 or 30 times."

Sandra Miller, 17, of Phoenix, has seen it 39 times -- 20 times at the Flamingo Las Vegas and 19 times at various community theaters and professional productions in San Diego and Chicago.

"I saw it the first time in 1997 in our community theater," Miller, a high school senior, said. "I don't know what I liked about it. I just fell in love with it. I enjoy older music."

Her sister, Laura Miller, 27, also of Phoenix, has seen the show 37 times. She takes responsibility for getting her sister hooked on "Plaid."

"I don't think (the cast) had finished singing 'Three Coins in a Fountain' before I said to myself, 'I've got to bring (Sandra). She's going to love it.' I didn't think she would enjoy it this much," she said.

The sisters attended two performances Saturday night, in light of the fact they won't see the show again at the Flamingo.

"We've been hoping it would relocate," Laura Miller said. "One thing about the show, you can bring a kid or your mother. There is nothing offensive in it. Some of the shows they're putting in up here, you can't take your kids to see."

Ken Seiffer, bass player with "Plaid" for five years, has been playing gigs in Las Vegas for 27 years.

"For me, personally," Seiffer said, "this is probably the most fun I've had here, and I've played for (Frank) Sinatra and Steve (Lawrence) and Eydie (Gorme). I enjoyed being part of the show."

Allen McMullen, the show's production supervisor, noted that the closing isn't a tragedy -- it's show business and everyone in the business goes into it knowing the run will end sooner or later.

"Sometimes a show closes before you're ready," McMullen said. "But we've been very blessed. We've had a great time.

"This is a show about dreams. Hopefully, this closing is not the end of it. But if it is, it is nice to go out on top."

Jerry Fink

is an Accent feature writer. Reach him at 259-4058 or jerry@lasvegassun.com..

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