'Plaid' makes a checkered comeback

By Lisa Bornstein, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 16, 2007 at 12:05 a.m.

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The boys in plaid are back, in an utterly contrived and too-long show that's nonetheless beautifully performed, directed and choreographed.

Forever Plaid told the tale - a loose one - of a quartet of harmonizing boys in the early '60s who, on their way to a show, were killed in a car accident. They got one last chance to perform, returning from the heavens for a gig.

Well, make that two last chances.

Forever Plaid having been so successful - think of it: cheap royalties, great songs, tiny cast and low production costs - creator Stuart Ross brought the kids back to Earth for Plaid Tidings.

Ostensibly, they're here to discover their mission, which is obviously a Christmas concert. The Plaids somehow miss this, leading to many, many bad gags that make the group look borderline mentally deficient.

And yet . . . director-choreographer Anita Boland makes the most of the limited material, beginning with the casting of a beautifully voiced, spryly comic quartet. They're all fairly long in the tooth for a boy band on the verge of stardom, but they are talented.

As the group's leader, Sparky, Scott Ahearn has an affable goofiness. James E. Bullard plays Frankie with choirboy purity in voice and demeanor, and finelytuned comic facial reactions. Alan Swade-ner's voice may stun you, as it rises high- er than most women can sing with no loss of strengtho in the role of Jinx, he's the shyest member of the troupe and terribly sweet. And Joseph Torello's booming bass nearly sets seats a-rumbling. He gets the best lines as the geek- ily intellectual Smudge and stuns with his range as he moves into tenor terri- tory on a gentle, lilting Christmas medley.

Where the show works, it owes much to Boland, working on Brian Mallgrave's sleek, stylish 1950s set. Boland moves the production smoothly and injects humor in deft ways. On Sh-Boom, the boys recall practicing at home, dancing with toilet plungers like microphones. A rap song, Twuz the Nite B4, is rap only for people who think hip-hop is a form of Jazzercise, but Boland punches it up with loose- limbed, cute moves. And a three- minute Ed Sullivan Show is a miracle of tight movements.

Martha Yordy does yeoman's work on keyboard, and Nicole M. Harrison provides playful, attractive costumes.

But the show itself, particularly its patronizing and slight attempts to in- clude those of other cultures, doesn't merit the fine songs within it. And it cer- tainly doesn't merit the talent on hand.

Plaid Tidings

*Grade: B-

*When and where: 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays, through Dec. 23, Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd.

*Cost: $25 to $48

*Information: 720-898-7200

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