Launching Plaid: Nostalgic production set for another run

Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 | 8:51 a.m.

Some pessimists thought "Forever Plaid" was forever lost to Las Vegas when it was forced to vacate the Flamingo four years ago to make way for "Second City."

Even "Forever Plaid's" producer, Richard Martini, wasn't sure what the future might hold. He lamented corporate changes, especially executives' attitudes about entertainment.

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

So after six years and 3,718 performances, the musical comedy by Stuart Ross closed in Las Vegas although other companies continued productions all over the world.

That was in December 2000.

Saturday, "Forever Plaid" returns, premiering at 7:30 p.m. at the Gold Coast Showroom.

"I always wanted to bring it back," Martini said recently as the cast was gearing up for rehearsals. "We went out at the top. We were not struggling. We were doing capacity business at the Flamingo."

"Plaid" owes its local resurrection, at least in part, to Tamara Peterson, a former employee in the advertising department at the Flamingo who moved to the Gold Coast.

When Peterson learned the Gold Coast was looking for a new show (replacing the long-running "Honky Tonk Angels"), she called Martini with the information.

Within a few days a deal was struck.

"It's a good venue, a good hotel," Martini said. "They were looking for an entertaining family show. The Coast properties are not into adult entertainment."

"Plaid" isn't Martini's only production. He has produced many shows, most recently the musical stage version of the film "Some Like it Hot." Tony Curtis performed in both the movie and the musical.

"Forever Plaid" was written, directed and choreographed by Ross, with musical continuity and arrangements by the late James Raitt. Written in 1987, it debuted in New York in 1990.

The production couldn't be more family oriented.

The musical is a charming story of four young men who are killed in an automobile accident on Feb. 9, 1964, en route to picking up the custom-made plaid tuxedos they were going to wear during their first professional gig.

The quartet is broadsided by a school bus filled with teens on their way to see the Beatles make their debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Through a chain of bizarre events, the harmonizing vocalists get one last opportunity to perform -- proving that their spirits still live on.

All of the songs are great standards of the '50s.

"Basically, the show is the same as it was when it was at the Flamingo," Martini said.

Veteran plaids

"Plaid" has a veteran cast of four performers and an understudy. Each has had a long-term association with various companies of the musical.

The understudy, Mark Perkins, has appeared in more than 1,200 performances of "Plaid," including 2 1/2 years in San Diego.

The rest of the cast includes J. Gregory Davis (who alternates the roles of Frankie, Sparky and Smudge); Douglas Frank (Frankie, Smudge); Bruce Ewing (Sparky, Jinx) and Dale Sandish (Sparky).

Davis was with "Plaid" for five years at the Flamingo. Before coming to Vegas he was with the production in Chicago, Washington D.C., Denver, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Galveston, Texas.

He and fellow cast member Ewing recently started a coffee shop (Rejavanate Coffee Lounge) at Flamingo and Pecos roads.

Ewing also was with the Las Vegas production of "Plaid" for five years.

Frank was with the Minneapolis production of "Plaid" for a couple of years and he understudied the show at the Michigan Ensemble Theatre in Traverse City for several years.

Sandish has been associated with the show for the past 14 years, beginning as the first cast replacement for the original New York off-Broadway company.

Seeing plaid

Ross says he is happy to see his creation back in Vegas.

"We were sorry when it closed, but finally the right moment came for us to come back," Ross said. "Since we closed (Martini) has been trying to find the right circumstances."

Ross said since the show closed he has tweaked it a little.

"We will add a few things, something a little special for Vegas," Ross said. "We've put in some surprises, trying to tailor it for Vegas a little more -- not in a glitzy way, but in the heart."

Ross was inspired to write a play using songs from the '50s in the early '80s, when he pulled out some old records he had stashed away.

"I looked at the record covers and saw romantic covers of women, candlelight and wine, and singers who were complete nerds," said Ross, a highly acclaimed writer, director and choreographer who co-authored the Tony-nominated Broadway musical "Starmites."

"They were fun to hear and I wondered what it would be like to hear them live," Ross said. "That was the basis, the beginning of the show."

He worked on a script for several years and finally debuted a 2 1/2-hour version of the production on Valentine's Day 1987. It kicked around for several years in regional theaters in upstate New York before opening off-Broadway in New York in May 1990.

"I had done it in late-night cabarets for a while," Ross said. "Then in New York we started out at the edgiest clubs, at hip comedy clubs. What we were doing was considered subversive."

Ross said he continued to rewrite the show, cutting it down to 90 minutes and following principles of standard musicals, making it more mainstream.

"In the beginning I thought if the show ran a few weeks I would be very happy and go on with my life," he said.

Instead the show has all but become his life.

While for some "Forever Plaid" may be nostalgic -- filled with 90 minutes of songs such as "Chain Gang," "Catch a Falling Star," "Sixteen Tons" and "Three Coins in a Fountain" -- Ross did not intend it to be a walk down memory lane.

A lot of thought went into the song selection.

"We needed to keep them innocent," Ross said. "Even the comedy ones had to be pure. We couldn't be too jazz oriented, or too hip. Every song had to have a yearning."

Ross wanted a play that everyone could relate to, even those not familiar with the music. At age 51, he was only 2 or 3 when many of the songs in his musical were released.

"It was a little pre-me," he said.

But that didn't stop Ross from being inspired by the era and the emotions of that era -- and for that fans will be forever grateful.

What: "Forever Plaid."

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturdays through Thursdays; dark Fridays.

Where: Gold Coast Showroom.

Tickets: $29.95 show alone; $34.95 show and dinner package.

Information: Call 251-3574.