UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE
HIGHGATE ILLAGE LONDO N6 4BD
My joy was extreme this evening, to visit one of my favourite theatres, the expertly run by the family Plews in the middle of beautiful Highgate.
It was a deliht to see “Forever Plaid” the four part harmony show. I saw it in the West End and remember very well interviewing thefour gorgeous young men in their dressing room. A funny and enjoyable experience.
A barbershop show doesn’ spoud all tht exciting. There is limit to the amount of harmonising one can live with but it could never fail in the hands of katie Pleews – producer, Joh, direcetor and their daughter, my friend Racky in charge of the choreography.
The show has a curious theme.
Fur young men at the very beinnin of a highly successful career as a group, and on 9the Febdruary 1964 were about to appear at the airport Hilton Cocktail Bar when they were killed in an accident.
Fifty years later they are brought back to life and to regroup to perform music of their age and to enchant the people with the music of their age – the early sixties.
Just the beginning of rock and roll, but they are still peerforming sweetness and jazz complete with doowahs.
To divert a little. This particularly brought back memories of the great Film and theatre direct Wendy Toye who used to come and see our shows and practically falling off her chair laughing at the doowahs the late David Wykes pianist extraordinaire, and I put into various numbers.
But true to form I am wandering from the point at issue. Forever Plaid
The singing was. of course, superb with musical direction from Ian Oakley award winning musican and composer.I was even more amused by the precision of the movements by the guys. Absolutely spot on, except when on eof them would make a mistake for comic effect.
The show is packed with comedy.
Of course it suffers alittle from a audiece wearing masks and it might have been disastrous if we had not been without theatre for so long and hadf beome accustomed to the strangemness. It must have been awful for the cast looking out at an audience of masked faces. But we were able to enjoy the chorus of grunts of enjoyment from the illustrious press night audience.
The guys were in for anything that made a good joke and they were highly appreciated by the customers. They got rhough about thirty numbers allharmonically sung with terrific precision and with different movementsfor each number. Not an eady show to be put together
I thought it was absolutly terrific.Happily I was sitting with a friend of ine who didnt mind the fact hat I couod not keep still when the music was playing.
Oneof the silliest and most accomplished was their American version of a new group from Lieerpool Enle more concentration on the personalities of the guys.gland called the Beatles. She Loves you – with doowahs and very little relationship with the actual words or tune.
Onething I would have liked was a little more concentration on the personalities of the men. It may be my age, but I was not really sure which was which out of Frankie, Jinx,Smudg3 and Sparky.
An occasion of great joy . Just the kind of thing we need after our fifteen months of deprivation.
Happiness all round. xxx
pyekan 