CULTURE MONSTER

A movie version of “Forever Plaid” will be shown simultaneously via satellite feed at 500 theaters in the United States and Canada on July 9, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the popular off-Broadway musical. The movie theater audience also will see a feed of a live stage show featuring Hollywood and Broadway stars and will have the opportunity to join in a nationwide sing-along.

The film will get the requisite red carpet (or will it be plaid?) treatment at downtown L.A.’s Club Nokia, with a celeb-studded pre-show, including an introduction by actor Fred Willard, an appearance by Carol Channing and a performance by “Plaid” cast members, including three from the original stage production (Stan Chandler, Larry Ruben and David Engel). Channing will sing one of her signature songs, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

The stage show will be part of the package when the movie is released on DVD. A CD is planned as well.

The movie was produced by Benni Korzen (Forever Plaid Productions) and is being distributed by Fathom Productions, a division of National CineMedia. Tickets for the theater showings are $18. The Nokia event is somewhat pricier, with general admission set at $50 and VIP tickets at $175. There are no plans for a wider theatrical release for the movie.

“We just finished the movie last Friday,” Korzen said. “This production has created some interesting challenges; no one has done this before, we are guinea pigs; it’s not just a movie, it’s a live event. We have to make sure our technical crew pushes the right buttons. . . . The sing-along and all of that is something we’re all now trying to wrap our hands around.”

Why the decision to present the show this way instead of producing a traditional movie adaptation for general release? “We were really stymied -- we thought, ‘We can’t go out with 2,000 prints, nor is it an art movie -- it’s something in between.’ Fathom was looking for something that was not the standard movie musical release.” Korzen is predicting about 45% capacity audiences at the participating theaters.

Will feeding “Forever Plaid” into 500 movie houses cut into the audience for the many stage productions of the ubiquitous musical? The show seems to roll through the Los Angeles area regularly; recent regional productions have included a “holiday edition” at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2001 and performances in Fullerton and La Mirada.

Korzen doesn’t think so. “Remember when TV came about and some people said: ‘That will kill the movie business?’ ” He said some preliminary research for the project revealed that many “Forever Plaid” audience members had seen the show multiple times: “There’s something there that brought people back in.

“Co-existence is very much possible here; it depends on how much the audience enjoys this.”

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diane.haithman@latimes.com