film by bill biss
There are shows in the history of theatre which seem to take on a life of their own.
Forever Plaid is one of those productions and has garnered a niche audience of devoted
DaviD EngEl
“Plaid Heads,” as they are known. For those not familiar with the premise of the show, it
centers around four lovable losers in 1964 who fancy themselves as the next big male
harmony quartet. The Beatles are arriving on the pop music scene and the music of the
late 1950s is considered now stuffy and outdated. Unfortunately, just when they are on
and Forever Plaid
the road to their first big gig, they are killed in a car accident. Miraculously… they are
brought back from heaven to perform the show they always wanted to do.
ONE-NIgHT-ONLY SCREENINg OF THE FILM VERSION
On July 9, there will be a one-night-only screening coast to coast to commemorate
OF AN OFF-BROADWAY CLASSIC. the 20th anniversary of Forever Plaid. (Catch your local screening location at the close
of this interview) It is fitting that this show is made into a musical film for
posterity, as it remains the #1 Off-Broadway production for two decades
with ticket sales generating more than $300,000,000.
One of the Four Plaids, actor/singer/dancer David Engel who plays
Smudge spoke with The Rage Monthly about the phenomenon that is
Forever Plaid, the history of the production and how he met his husband,
Larry Raben when they performed Forever Plaid together. Raben played
Sparky in the original cast alongside Engel.
Forever Plaid is really one of those productions with no expiration date
on the label of success. David Engel is just as amazed as anyone about
the success and states, “When we first did it, I actually was first involved
with it in 1988. Then, we actually got together in 1989 to do it at this little
cabaret stage in New York. Right then, it was this little tiny revue. We
thought it was funny and we liked singing the music but we couldn’t
get anybody into the theatre. The show was about these four dead guys
singing elevator music. It just wasn’t… the title didn’t tell people what it
was about and it took a long time to catch on.
As soon as it did, it was great. Then it went on to play main stages. We
took it to Japan. Literally, we took it all over the world. It now has this
huge life to it. It’s the most produced show that Musical Theatre National
licenses out. Now, 20 years later… we made a film of it. No, there was no
way to know that it was going to be what it became!”
David Engel met his partner and the man who is now his husband,
Larry Raben when he first landed the role of Smudge in Forever Plaid.
Raben worked opposite him as Sparky, one the four Plaids. It wasn’t an
instant connection as David explains, “Larry wasn’t [gay] when we first
started. I sort of turned him around (laughter). We met twenty years
ago and we were both with other people. He was with a girl. I was with
a guy for like, ten years. It wasn’t really an option. Then, three years into
it, we just started looking at each other differently and when we did the
show in London, we got together and we never went back. We’ve been
together 16 years now and we’ve been married almost a year.”
How did the idea to make a film of Forever Plaid come about? Engel
gives a bit of a back-story, “The last time I did Forever Plaid was five years
ago. Then, about two years ago we did the holiday sequel called Plaid
Tidings. I remember it was New Year’s Eve at that show. We all said we
were announcing our retirement from Plaid. We’re going to hang up
Forever Plaid 20th AnniversAry speciAl screening -July 9 our plaid cumber buns. We’ve run our course and we want to still go out
AMc Mission valley 20, united Artists horton plaza , while we still look young enough. So, we said we retired from it. A year later, this whole
AMc la Jolla village 12, AMc Otay ranch 12 and movie idea comes up…so, we all got back on. We’ve seen some of the rough cuts at
edwards Mira Mesa 18 with iMAX in san Diego. a screening that we were at and performed at, and it looks better than anything I’ve
L.A. Premiere Event ever seen of a live production shot. It is basically the show. But, they took such great
club nokia 800 West Olympic Blvd. care to get it from every angle and make it look so magical. Plus, they are adding lots
All screening times begin at 8:00 p.m. of computer-generated effects and animation to it and flashback stuff. It’s just a really
red carpet event at 4:00 p.m./premiere event at 5:00 p.m. great adaptation.”
14 RAGE monthly | July 2009
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