A Salute to Music Kids Everywhere

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Dreamy Music, Beautiful Harmonies and Goofy Guys in “Forever Plaid”

By Skip Sheffield

Do you like tight four-part harmony?

Yeah, me too. That’s why I love “Forever Plaid,” which is a nostalgic tribute to music kids everywhere. The “Heavenly Musical Hit” runs through July 24 at the Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.

I know of what I speak because I joined my first musical group when I was 12. It went nowhere, but I learned guitar at 14 and formed a group at 15. We earned actual money; not much, but enough to make me think I had a future in show business. I have dabbled in it ever since.

“Forever Plaid” is about dreams deferred. The mythical group of the title is snuffed out on the evening of Feb. 9, 1964. The four guys who called themselves The Plaids were killed when a bus full of Catholic girls T-boned their car on the way to an all-important gig.

Director-choreographer Stuart Ross has concocted a fantasy where the Plaid lads are allowed to come back to life to perform one final show.

The Wicks director is Steven Flaa, who is a Plaid lad himself. This is his first time at the Wick, but his 15^th time directing “Forever Plaid.”

“Forever Plaid” is all about the music, mostly from the 1950s.

The Plaids are stereotypes of typical clean-cut 1950s guys. Alex Jorth is Frankie, the most outgoing. Adolpho Blaire is Sparky, the chubby guy with a utility voice. Nick Endsley is Jinx, the smallest Plaid, high tenor, and prone to nosebleeds, and Charles Logan is Smudge, who holds down the bottom end.

The songs, performed without intermission, are a parade of 1950s guy-group hits. Some are well-known (“Three Coins in a Fountain,” “No, Not Much,” “Perfidia”) some are obscure (“Gotta Be This or That,” “Undecided.”

For anyone who has ever labored as a wedding band, there is a special section just for you. For all of us there is a hilarious Ed Sullivan tribute, featuring all his most famous acts.

“Forever Plaid” features a real, live onstage band, which is a big plus. For us music kids, who refuse to give up in the face of constant rejection, “Forever Plaid” is an ideal where everything works out fine.

Tickets are $55. Call 561-995-2333 or go to www.thewick.org.