Beck Center for the Arts to Open 2014-15 Season with FOREVER PLAID, 9/12-10/12

Beck Center for the Arts opens its 2014/2015 theater season with a production of the Off-Broadway hit, Forever Plaid, on the Mackey Main Stage, September 12 through October 12, 2014. Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are on sale now.

Written and originally directed and choreographed by Stuart Ross, Forever Plaid a deliciously goofy musical comedy that centers on four eager singers whose dreams of making it big end with a bus collision on the way to their first big concert. Miraculously revived from the afterlife, they fulfill their dreams and perform the show that never was. The Plaids sing in the closest of harmony, squabble over the smallest intonations, and execute charmingly outlandish choreography to some of the greatest nostalgic hits of the 1950s such as "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Rags to Riches," "Chain Gang," "Catch a Falling Star" and more.

Beck Center's longtime choreographer, Martín Céspedes, directs and choreographs this production. "The engine that runs Forever Plaid is the music. It is not a 'trip down memory lane' musical, but a story of a band of brothers with a single dream," remarks Céspedes. "It is ultimately about the transformative power of music, the love they have for each other, and a second chance to fulfill a dream they thought slipped away."

With musical direction by Bryan Bird, Forever Plaid stars Josh Rhett Noble in the role of Sparky, Matthew Ryan Thompson as Jinx, Brian Altman as Smudge and Shane Patrick O'Neill as Frankie. Equity actor Noble appears courtesy of the Actors' Equity Association (AEA), the union of actors and stage managers.

Tickets are $29 for adults, $25 for seniors (65 and older), $12 for students (with valid ID), and $10 for children (12 and under). An additional $3 service fee per ticket is applied at the time of purchase. Preview Night on Thursday, September 11, is $10 with general admission seating. Group discounts are available for parties of 13 or more. Purchase tickets online beckcenter.org or call Customer Service at 216.521.2540 x10. Beck Center is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland. Free onsite parking is available.

Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI), this production of Forever Plaid is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and the Ohio Arts Council.

Forever Plaid opens Beck Center's 2014/2015 theater season that includes the musical comedy [title of show]; an exciting smash hit holiday production; Dogfight, the next collaboration with Baldwin Wallace Musical Theater Program; the classic farce Lend Me a Tenor; the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama The Young Man From Atlanta; and Green Day's rock musical American Idiot. "Once again I am extremely proud of the diversity of titles on our two stages this season. I think you would be hard-pressed to see the variety of shows Beck Center produces practically anywhere else in the region," says Beck Center Artistic Director Scott Spence, now embarking on his 24th season.

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