Pittsbugh CLO Announces Cast Of Forever Plaid, Opens 10/8

Pittsburgh CLO is proud to announce the cast and creative team for the return of Forever Plaid, which runs October 8, 2009, through March 28, 2010, at the CLO Cabaret. Celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Cabaret in style with the musical comedy hit that opened the theater in 2004. Tickets are available at pittsburghCLO.org or by calling 412-456-6666.

About the Cast

Chris Crouch (Frankie) returns to Pittsburgh CLO after performing as an understudy in the 2004 CLO Cabaret production of Forever Plaid. He has appeared as Sparky, Smudge, and Jinx in additional productions of Forever Plaid in Sacramento, Charlotte and Boston. Mr. Crouch's National Tour credits include Ragtime and The Music Man. He has also performed regionally in The Last 5 Years, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell and Footloose.

J.D. Daw (Jinx) also returns to Pittsburgh CLO after performing in the 2004 CLO Cabaret production of Forever Plaid. Previously, he played Jinx with California Musical Theatre and North Shore Music Theatre. He served as the swing in Forbidden Broadway and played Jinx in Plaid Tidings, both at the CLO Cabaret. Mr. Daw recently finished a short run of Nite Club Confidential with The Broadway Rose Theatre Company in Portland. In May of 2007, he graduated from Penn State with a B.F.A. in Theater.

Joseph Domencic (Smudge) is another veteran performer at the CLO Cabaret, where he has performed in Forever Plaid, Forbidden Broadway, Plaid Tidings, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change and My Way. He toured the country as an actor and assistant music director with The Acting Company in O Pioneers! and The Comedy of Errors, and has also performed with Pittsburgh CLO (A Musical Christmas Carol, 1776, Footprints on the Moon, Young Mark Twain, Les Misérables), Pittsburgh Public Theater, Unseam'd Shakespeare and Mountain Playhouse.

Marcus Stevens (Sparky) starred in the original 2004 CLO Cabaret production of Forever Plaid. He is a graduate of Point Park University who also performed in CLO Cabaret productions of Forbidden Broadway, Plaid Tidings and The Big Bang. Mr. S tevens has worked for The Pittsburgh Public Theater, City Theatre Company, The Pittsburgh Playhouse, Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh and Bricolage. His work in Floyd Collins and in A New Brain earned him praise in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for "One of the Year's Best Performances" in both 2002 and 2003.

Mark Turner (Understudy) was the understudy in the 2004 CLO Caberet production of Forever Plaid, a role he also performed in the CLO Cabaret production of Plaid Tidings. A Point Park University graduate, he just finished performing alongside Chris Crouch and J.D. Daw in the California Musical Theatre production of Forever Plaid and recently played the lead in the independent short film "In the Ghetto." Mr. Turner also worked aboard the Disney Cruise Lines.

About the Creative Team

Guy Stroman (Director/Choreographer) directed the CLO Cabaret's first production of Forever Plaid that opened the venue in 2004, as well as Plaid Tidings in 2007. He has just completed directing Forever Plaid for California Musical Theatre. Mr. Stroman originated the role of Frankie in Forever Plaid in New York, London's West End and Los Angeles, where he won best acting awards from the L.A. Drama Critics and Drama-Logue. He has directed and choreographed several long-running productions of Forever Plaid around the country and can be heard on the original cast recording. He has also directed Reader's Theatre series presentations of The Monday Nite Stop for the Atlantic Theatre Co., featuring performers such as Lynn Redgrave, Jean Stapleton and Joy Behar. His other directing credits include The Glass Menagerie, The King and I, 1776, Oliver!, Mame, The Lion in Winter, Marvin's Room and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He directs and performs the concert series Sandy Duncan Celebrates Broadway with Guy Stroman and Don Correia, which has played concert and symphony halls around the world.

Deana Muro (Music Director) marks her ninth production at the CLO Cabaret with the return of Forever Plaid. She has been the resident music director since the theater's inception in 2004 and now has more than 1,200 performances to her credit at the theater. Ms. Muro most recently conducted The Full Monty at the Paper Mill Playhouse this summer with Elaine Stritch. She has played the keyboard for the National Tours of Jesus Christ Superstar and Beauty and The Beast, as well as for Pittsburgh CLO productions of The Full Monty and Smokey Joe's Café. She has music directed/accompanied CLO Cabaret productions of Forever Plaid, Forbidden Broadway/SVU, Always . . . Patsy Cline, Plaid Tidings, The Big Bang, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, My Way and 8-TRACK, The Sounds of the 70's.

Andrew David Ostrowski (Lighting Designer) most recently designed Porgy and Bess for the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, 8-TRACK, The Sounds of the 70's, My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at the CLO Cabaret and both Without You and Long Story Short for City Theatre. He also designed the lighting for six other CLO Cabaret productions. He has been the Associate Lighting Designer on 50- plus Pittsburgh CLO shows and has designed for Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Pittsburgh Musical Theater and many others.

Performance Schedule

Forever Plaid

October 8, 2009, through March 28, 2010

Performances

Wednesday - Saturday 7:30pm

Saturday & Sunday 2:00pm

Select Thursdays 1:00pm *

* Matinees with optional buffet - Oct. 29, Nov. 19, Dec. 17, Jan. 28, Feb. 25 and March 25

* Additional Holiday Matinees - Nov. 27 and Dec. 30

* Dark on Oct. 14, Nov. 4 and 26, Dec. 2, 24, 25 and 31, Jan. 1 and 6, Feb. 3 and March 3

Tickets

Saturday Evenings: $44.50. Evenings: $39.50. Matinees: $34.50.

Tickets are available online at pittsburghCLO.org, by calling 412-456-6666 or at the Box Office at Theater Square. Groups of 10 or more can call the Group Sales Hotline at 412-325-1582 to learn more about special discounts, priority seating and corporate discounts.

Visit pittsburghCLO.org for more information. Forever Plaid is sponsored by the Charity Randall Foundation and TRACO.

To post a comment, you must register and login.