Forever Plaid

One perfect moment


Performing - I mean really performing a show like Forever Plaid is difficult. There's twenty some songs to memorize - all of them choreographed. And, when three people jump to the right, it's very obvious if the other one turns left. So it's tough to stop concentrating on getting it right and let yourself live the emotion of the role.

We began rehearsing in January - working on the music in a small living room. We immediately loved the harmonies and started having fun right away. Just like the characters we would prortay, the four of us were very different and yet worked well together. We became good friends.

Together, we studied and practiced, and practiced and studied some more. We were always fixing and polishing, even after we started playing four nights a week to a sold out theater. Every night before the show, we'd get together and warm up by working on making the show better. "The moves, the notes, the words!"

"The show was going great" was one of my lines. And the show was. We had fun every night and we got great feedback from the audiences.

In Forever Plaid, four guys get one chance to perform the show they always wanted to perform - One chance to "touch their dream" fulfilling all the hopes that they had worked toward for so long. One last chance... and so, on closing night, we had one last chance to perform the show we had worded so hard to perfect.

"It's the last night," we reminded each other and then tried not to think about it. This time, before the show, instead of polishing anything, we decided to stand in a circle around the piano. We sang just to listen to each other and enjoy the blend of harmonies. I closed my eyes to enjoy it more thoroughly. We had come so far since we stood in a circle discovering the harmonies in the living room.

We finally had it down. And, that last night, I really stopped thinking about getting it right and lived the show we were performing. Similar to days before, as the show starts, I play Sparky as a little nervous and quite excited about performing. Sparky is also the cut-up of the group. That last night, I got to live the role of my character by playing some subtle extra jokes. Like when I usually threw confetti right next to Smudge - I threw it right in his face. And during one song, we snap in the background. We snapped really loudly. I almost started laughing. In another song, I said my lines a little slowly just to force the others to remember more of the background song that they hadn't sung in a month.

Earlier in the week I had a cold and struggled but now, my voice had come back to sound my best. When I got to the end of my solo, I sang the big riff and the crowd cheered me on! I held the last note extra long just for fun.



During Jinx's feature, we (the backup vocals for his song) are supposed to react with joy as Jinx breaks out of his shell during the song. Jinx took an extra risk and really shined with big high notes in the middle and the end of his song. We needed no acting skill to express joy.

For "Heart and Soul," I played the silly piano intro (that I had practiced quite a bit). The crowd applauded. Then, when it came time to pull a volunteer to play piano, Frankie asks, "Who likes to play the bottom? Who likes to be on top?" One person put her hand up and then realized the joke and quickly pulled her hand back down. But it was too late. She was the volunteer. It turns out, she was an excellent pianist. She even improvised a little extra.

This was Smudge's first musical. But, even with all that choreography on all those songs, I didn't see a single mistake from him (or any of us) that night.

During another funny bit, I jump like a ballerina and Frankie lifts me up. I think we both had it in our minds that we should really try hard because I jumped and he lifted me higher and for longer than ever before.

When the last number came up, each of our characters contemplates the end. As I stood up and Sparky decides, "yes, let's perform the last number and go out like Plaids," I was truly inspired. All through the last number, I enjoyed, listened, and watched. What a great joy this had been. At the final note, we raise our hands and faces up as white light floods us signifying that we are going off to heaven. I felt a great sense of satisfaction that we had taken that last opportunity and really gotten it right.






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