August 12, 2026

‘FOREVER PLAID’ LADS SPARKY, SMUDGE, JINX AND FRANKIE DEAD ON IN HEAVENLY BACK TO LIFE COMMAND PERFORMANCE

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GRAVENHURST — You’ve seen the Walking Dead.

Wait till you hear the singing dead.

“The Plaid” — high school buddies Sparky, Smudge, Jinx and Frankie — “were,” “are” a 1950s four-part harmony group on their way up in more ways than one.

February 9, 1964, driving to pick up their custom plaid tuxedos for an Airport Hilton cocktail bar debut, a bus of Catholic schoolgirls bound for The Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan Show hits them. And the Plaids die.

The four lads land in limbo with their only route to heaven re-playing the concert. Kind of an early “Stairway to Heaven.”

“It could be the biggest comeback since Lazarus,” one of them predicts.

Forever Plaid? Forever dead?

See for yourself at the Gravenhurst Opera House till Aug. 19.

“It’s the funniest show ever,” boasts director Dave Campbell, a former Op and long-time theatre producer who also narrates the darkened opening.

Smooth voices and smooth moves make Forever Plaid — John C. Malcolm, Roberto Sapienza, Caulin Moore and Damien Broomses —a crooners schooze fest until Aug. 19 at the Gravenhurst Opera House as they celebrate the best of the ’50s and ’60 easy-listening music. So grab your Perry Como cardigan and enjoy a trip back in musical memory times. PHOTOS Mark Clairmont MuskokaTODAY.com

It stars the amazing musical theatre, singing, acting talents of John C. Malcolm, Damien Broomses, Roberto Sapienza, and Caulin Moore.

The premise of Stuart Ross’s popular fictious show is not unlike others including the final would-be gigs of Hank Williams and Buddy Holly.

At a sneak peak before yesterday afternoon’s opening performance, the wee lads offered a taste of what life’s like on the other side with heavenly harmonies that add comedic asides to the narrative of the story portrayed in the confines of a play presented by the Gravenhurst Opera House.

It also plays Aug. 21-29 at Theatre on the Bay in Barrie.

“It’s more than a concert, says Campbell.”

The Plaids music defies categorization — maybe Barbershop — with hits from a mostly faded past.

It hugs you like a Parry Como cardigan, which they pay tribute to with a skit about one of them running into him at a gas station and inviting him to their concert.

Once on the vanguard of new era themselves, only to be eclipsed by Beatles, these amazing singers — comparable to the Four Aces and Four Freshmen — make the most of their time in purgatory.

“We never sounded this good when we were alive.”

**The Plaids come back to life for a command performance in purgatory hoping their best show ever will catapult them even further into the stardom of heaven.**

With songs by the likes of Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra’s “Three Coins in a Fountain,” nobody at Monday’s Gravenhurst opening afternoon show were “Undecided” about how they enjoyed this side of the post-war musical era.

The audience lapped up the Plaid lads and their more than 30 nostalgic pop tunes.

“Great!” “Wonderful!” “I could sing all those songs.” “Brought back lots of memories.”

With funny, fast-paced choreography, the 90-minute show moves along with its beloved melodies rekindling the best of ’50s and ’60 ballads, easy listening lounge sounds and TV hit parades.

Listen and love this four-part harmony here.

You can experience their immense musical theatre backgrounds. Refreshed by two recent weeks of eight-hour-day rehearsals. Just as the Plaid did in a dad’s plumbing shop basement.

They are ably backed by the always smooth groove of a trio led by Rosalind Mills on piano, Jamie Bestwick on double bass and Mike Kawabe on drums, who set the tone for each song launch with their perfect note first pitch. A tight combo executing a flawless musical segue that flows effortless from Mills’ slow piano ballad accompaniment into an upbeat tempo without a second of silence.

Allowing each quartet star a fitting moment in the spotlight — even if Sapienza (Newsies) funnily had to follow the spot with his stool.

Both he and Caulin Moore (great cow lick) carried the show as the leading men. Sapienza even being forced onto the keys — on a “union break” by Mills, joked Moore — as Sapienza and audience member Judy (McGilvary) Archenault shared the black and whites for “Heart and Soul.”

The show also lets Malcom (loveable Jinx) to stand taller than he is in bringing down the house with his stunningly and majestically soaring rendition of Patsy Cline’s “Cry Not For Me.”

It was reminder for local thespian lovers of 2013 when Malcolm reprised the same role and brought more tears in Campbell’s Plaids show audience in Orillia.

Testing, testing, 1-2-3-4 Plaids. Is this thing on?

Broomses (who’s in-laws live in Bracebridge) was brilliant in opening the second set, sharing his deep, dark, dulcet Barbadian-roots voice on a Calypso tribute saluting the unmistakeable sounds of Harry Belefonte’s “Day-O” and “Matilda” among others.The new set included a lovely version of “Perfidia,” the Spanish-language song written by Mexican composer Alberto Domínguez and beautifully harmonized by the other three Plaids — who on another number whistled along in perfect pitch.

And while the Plaids said before the show they didn’t know what clan they were, they did include a tribute to their tartan with “Scotland the Brave,” one of more than 30 songs in the nightly shows that start at 7:30 p.m.

They definitely brought “Plaid Tidings” to all.

“We had our Ed Sullivan moment,” Sapienza summed up in his touching epilogue.

Indeed with a humorous “three-minute” take on the best of Sullivan’s shows — including “Kiss Me Goodnight Eddy,” by Topo Gigio that drew loud applause from the grey hairs.

It was a wonderful crooners schmooze fest from start to finish.

That made everybody grateful dead fans — or Forever Plaid “Dead Heads.”

See the beautifully sung and performed show if you want to know the ending.

Tickets are well worth the $40 + tax price and can be had by going online to the Opera House here.