Can ‘Plaid’ last forever?

Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

What: "Forever Plaid"

Where: Gold Coast Showroom

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, 3 p.m. matinee on Sundays

Tickets: $39.95; www.goldcoastcasino.com/entertainment

Rating (out of 5 stars): 5

McMahon: Big shows tempting but not as fun

Kevin McMahon, the newest member of "Forever Plaid," joined the Las Vegas cast in April.

He started with a "Plaid" touring company in San Diego in 1999.

"You can make a career out of this show," McMahon said. "It has been good to a lot of us. We can go away, do something else and then come back to it."

He says though the larger productions are tempting, he enjoys the intimacy of "Plaid."

"You can still have fun with it, and that's the most important part," he said. "Every show is different, because of the interaction between the audience and the characters onstage."

He isn't too concerned about the uncertain future of the Las Vegas production.

"Show business is tough for everyone," McMahon said. "Every actor knows a long run is a gift. If you get it, you ride it for a while, but we're always looking for work. If you go into this business for stability, you're making a mistake."

- Jerry Fink

"Forever Plaid" celebrates its 500th performance at the Gold Coast on Thursday .

Whether it will make 1,000 is anybody's guess.

"We're struggling, like everyone else," producer Richard Martini said with a candor not typical of most producers. "Summers are always bad. But even last fall and winter, we were struggling through some parts of the year. We did OK; we didn't lose any money."

Until this summer.

"We will lose a little bit," Martini said.

He's hoping things will pick up in the fall and that the production can hold on until the Christmas season for the popular holiday version of the musical, "Plaid Tidings."

"Every week is questionable," Martini said. "We'll see if we can keep it going. We'll see what happens by January."

It would be a shame for Las Vegas to lose one of its most entertaining - and affordable - productions.

"Plaid" sells its simplicity. There is nothing elaborate or extravagant about the show, which has been trying to hold its own in a city dominated by such multimillion-dollar mega-productions as "Phantom" and the five Cirque du Soleil shows.

Now in its second run in Las Vegas, "Plaid" ran for six years at the Flamingo, closing in 2000 after about 3,700 performances. It reopened at the Gold Coast in January 2005.

For those unfamiliar with "Plaid," the musical is based on a simple premise: Four young singers are killed in a car wreck in 1964 before they can make their mark on the entertainment world, and they are sent back to Earth for one final performance.

It has a four-man cast. The night I revisited the show they were J. Greg Davis, Mark Perkins, Dale Sandish and Kevin McMahon, who joined the cast in April when Bruce Ewing left to join "Phantom: Las Vegas Spectacular." They were backed by pianist David Kancsar and bassist Ken Seiffert.

The show - written, directed and choreographed by Stuart Ross - is filled with nostalgic songs of the '50s and '60s such as "Crazy 'Bout Ya Baby," "Dream Along With Me," "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" and "Magic Moments."

"Plaid" has a bare-bones set with few props. But the quartet's harmony is exhilarating. The humor is a little corny but perfect for a family show.

Plus, it's a bargain at about $40, compared to $99 for "O" or $131 for Elton John at Caesars Palace.

Yet it is struggling.

"This town is tough," Martini said. "There are what, 132 shows? That's a lot of tickets to sell every night."

Those who include a show on their "Things to Do While I'm in Las Vegas" list usually choose a high-profile production such as Cirque's "Mystere" or "O." If the smaller shows are lucky, visitors include a second, less expensive show on their list.

"The Cirque show is a Cirque show," Martini said. "The tourists have got to figure out what the second show will be - 'Plaid' is a good second show, but it's tough to get noticed."

Only the biggest, most expensive shows can afford the kind of sustained advertising required to keep their names in the public eye.

"It's nearly impossible for a show our size to get the attention of the tourists," Martini said. "But you just do what you do and hope they find you."

In most cities, shows rely on word of mouth. But in this tourist mecca, word of mouth doesn't go very far.

"It lasts about two days," Martini said.

"Plaid" advertises as much as it can on a small budget.

"You walk through the baggage claim area at the airport - we talked about putting an ad there," Martini said. "But besides it being so outrageously expensive, does anyone really see the ads or are they just a blur?"

That's not just a Vegas problem.

"Theaters are struggling everywhere," he said. "Off-Broadway is dying - it's almost dead - because the theaters can't afford to advertise."

Another problem: "Plaid" is at a casino that caters to locals, even though it's only a couple of blocks off the Strip.

But Martini is looking ahead. He's producing a road show of "All Shook Up," a musical love story based on songs by Elvis that ran nine months on Broadway. He's looking at another show for Las Vegas, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change."

But he also admitted he's in the dark about what will succeed in this city of neon. "I don't know what works anymore," Martini said. "People, producers, call me all the time and want to do a show here and ask me what works. But I have no idea, and I've been in this town for more than 10 years."