Forever Plaid - USD Playhouse
Jesse Jensen - VCT - USD
professional summer theater, launches its inaugural season with Forever
Plaid, June 15 - 17 at 8 p.m. and June 18 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the
Wayne S. Knutson Theatre in the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts.
Tickets for Forever Plaid are $12 for adults, $8 for senior citizens
(62+), and $5 for youth (K-12) and university students with valid ID.
Forever Plaid, which was written by Stuart Ross with musical continuity
supervision and arrangements by James Raitt, is a delightful musical
revue that features the close harmony of The Plaids, a "guy group"
reminiscent of popular singing quartets like The Four Aces, The Ames
Brothers and The Crew Cuts from the 1950s.
The action of Forever Plaid centers on four young, male singers whose
dreams of recording an album ended when they were killed in a traffic
accident. While headed to their first major engagement, The Plaids were
broadsided by a bus filled with fans on their way to see the Beatles
make their American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. The play begins with
The Plaids returning from the afterlife for one final chance at musical
glory--to perform the show that never was. Singing nostalgic pop hits
of the 1950s and '60s, including numbers immortalized by Perry Como,
Harry Belafonte, Eddie Fisher, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Plaids
charm and delight audiences with their close harmony, witty dialogue
and outlandish choreography. Classic favorites like "Crazy 'Bout Ya
Baby," "No Not Much," "Sixteen Tons," "Chain Gang,"
"Catch a Falling Star," "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" and
many others make Forever Plaid an amusing journey down memory lane.
The cast includes Jeremy Gamet (Rapid City, S.D.) as Sparky, Elliot
Graber (Freeman, S.D.) as Frankie, Edwin Lopez (Canby, Minn.) as Jinx,
and Aaron Paschall (Denver, Colo.) as Smudge. Monica Jacobson (Tripp,
S.D.) accompanies the action on piano with Tim Miller (Kensington, Md.)
on bass. The artistic team is led by Charlotte Guyette (Vermillion,
S.D.), associate professor of theatre at The U, as director. Nanette
Hofer (Sioux Falls, S.D.) serves as musical director and Jonnie
Stapleton (South Sioux City, Neb.) as choreographer. Dan Guyette and
Dennis Chandler of Vermillion design the setting and lighting/sound,
respectively.
The University of South Dakota Playhouse, which is funded by a grant
from the USD Foundation, is the brainchild of Daniel Guyette, the dean
of the College of Fine Arts at The U. With this theatrical venture
Guyette provides east river audiences with additional opportunities to
experience the joy of professional-quality musical theatre. Following
its performances in Vermillion, Forever Plaid will tour to Madison June
23-25 for performances at the Dakota Prairie Playhouse and to Sioux
Falls and the historic Orpheum Theater from June 30 through July 2.