When Les Reagan was asked to direct Riverfront Theatre Company’s production of “Forever Plaid,” he already had the perfect cast in mind.
“They are all best friends. They have done so much theater together. They know how to work together. They are ‘Plaids’,” said Reagan of Kresley Thames, Noah Kimbrough, Joseph Lubeck and Jack Kimbrough, who make up the Plaids — the quartet at the center of the production which will be at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1-2 and at 3 p.m. Aug. 3 at North Augusta Community Center. For tickets, go here.
The four who range from current high school students to recent graduates are vocal students of Reagan’s and have begged him to do the musical for two or three years, he said.
The show is about the Plaids who are on their way to their first big gig when they are plowed into by a busload of teens heading to see The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” Feb. 9, 1964. The four singers are immediately killed.
They are allowed to return from Heaven for one night to play the concert.
He likens the show to “Jersey Boys,” as it features the music with rich harmonies of that same era. Songs include “Love is a Many Splendid Thing,” “Three Coins in a Fountain” and “Rags to Riches.”
“It’s great music from the late 50s to early 60s,” he said.
It runs about 90 minutes long and is “the cleanest show: audience will seen. It’s also lots of fun, he said.
“Forever Plaid” and its sequel “Plaid Tidings” are shows Reagan has a history with. He was the musical director for “Forever Plaid” in 2003 at Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre and was one of the Plaids in “Plaid Tidings.”
“It’s such an absolute joy and thrill to take these four guys on this journey as a fellow Plaid,” he said.
This will be the first show that Riverfront Theatre Co. has produced since it did “First Date” in October 2021. The late Richard Justice, who died in August 2020, had directed all of the group’s previous shows.
“The last show I did was Richard’s last ‘Songs for A New World,’” said Reagan.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards and received the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
