Holiday cheer decked in ‘Plaid’

Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 | 7:07 a.m.

What: "Plaid Tidings"

When: 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 31

Where: Gold Coast Showroom

Tickets: $43.95; 367-7111

Rating: ***** (out of 5)

"Plaid Tidings" will create enough pleasant memories to keep you warm throughout the winter.

Good harmony is always in season, but this yule version of "Forever Plaid" is something special, one that is worthy of becoming a family's Christmas tradition.

We get enough of the floor-shaking, ear-splitting, rave-driven, sex-crazed music the rest of the year.

It's nice to be able to step into a different world for a change, an innocent world void of four-letter words, screaming, anger or bitterness.

Many of the songs you will hear in "Plaid Tidings" have been around forever, but the "Plaid" quartet gives new feelings to them with the quartet's perfect harmony and often corny humor.

"I'll Be Home for Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas" and other classics are combined with such tunes as " 'Twuz Duh Nite B4 Xmas," "Cool Yule" and "Mixmaster/Psycho-Christmas" to create an evening not only joyful but a little out of the ordinary.

Many songs on the regular playlist of "Forever Plaid" have been slightly reworked and given a Christmas twist for "Plaid Tidings." You probably won't hear "Matilda," "Stranger in Paradise" and "Fever" done quite like this anywhere else.

Stuart Ross wrote, directed and choreographed both "Forever Plaid" and "Plaid Tidings."

For those who don't know the premise, "Forever Plaid" is a fantasy about a quartet of aspiring vocalists whose lives end abruptly in a traffic accident on Feb. 9, 1964.

The cast includes four outstanding vocalists - Douglas Frank (as Smudge), Kevin McMahon (Jinx), Rodney Peck (Sparky) and Mark Perkins (Frankie). David Kancsar is on piano, Ken Seiffert on bass.

As the story goes, the "semiprofessional harmony group from eastern Pennsylvania" was on its way to its first major engagement when its car was broadsided by a school bus taking fans to see the Beatles make their U.S. debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

The four, caught between heaven and Earth, are being allowed one last performance "to complete their mission of harmony and be at peace for all eternity."

The nonholiday production is touted as "the return of Forever Plaid." "Plaid Tidings" is "the return of the return of Forever Plaid." "Tidings" opens where "Plaid" closed.

The four have received their coveted plaid dinner jackets and are wearing them on their return trip to heaven when suddenly they are called upon to do one more last performance to assure harmony in the universe.

Most of the scenes in "Plaid" have been adapted to "Tidings," simply by decorating them with a Christmas theme.

For example, one of the most entertaining bits in "Plaid" is a 3-minute, 11-second version of "The Ed Sullivan Show," complete with plate spinners, acrobats and the Italian mouse Topo Gigio.

One of the highlights of the show is a black-and-white clip from a Perry Como Christmas TV special from the early '60s. Thanks to modern technology, the four Plaids were able to perform backup to their favorite vocalist as he sang a couple of Christmas songs.

The Strip may have an abundance of Christmas shows, but you can't beat this one for nostalgic entertainment that will have you in the spirit before you leave the theater, if you aren't already whistling "Jingle Bells" before you go in.