TOM TITUS -- Theater preview

One of the nicest and most enjoyable birthday presents I’ve received

in recent years was a visit to the Canon Theater in Beverly Hills for a

performance of “Forever Plaid.”

If your musical tastes go back to the 1950s, as mine do, this is your

type of show. My birthday present came courtesy of a lady I was dating at

the time, and the frosting on this particular cake came when she was

chosen from all the admitted piano players in the audience to go up on

stage and play “Heart and Soul” on the keyboards.

“Forever Plaid” -- which is ticketed for Orange Coast College’s

Robert B. Moore Theatre Sunday afternoon -- is a magical mixture of

harmony and hilarity. It’s been touring since 1994 when the show finished

a four-year engagement on Broadway.

It’s the story of four teenagers who dream of becoming a singing group

like their idols the Four Aces, the Four Lads and the Four Freshmen. The

only problem -- all four are killed in a collision with a school bus

filled with eager teens on their way to see the Beatles’ 1964 debut on

the Ed Sullivan Show.

Now don’t wince; I said it was funny. Through angelic intervention,

the boys return to earth to do the show they never got to do in life. And

do they ever, 30 songs worth, including early 50s favorites such as

“Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” “Three Coins in the Fountain” and

“Moments to Remember.” There’s even, ironically, a Beatles number (“She

Loves You”) in the repertoire.

Local audiences -- at least those who have reserved tickets, since the

show is sold out -- can push their nostalgia buttons Sunday at 4 p.m. in

the Robert B. Moore Theatre when “Forever Plaid” makes a one-afternoon

stand in our own backyard. And even the younger folks might dig it, as a

sort of musical history lesson.

* * *

While on the subject of OCC, the college’s repertory company was

scheduled to put on a collection of plays by Harold Pinter this weekend.

However, Pinter has been scratched and replaced with David Mamet’s

“Oleanna,” which, from this corner, is all to the good.

OCC student Martin Winslow, of Costa Mesa, is directing the

two-character drama about a male college professor and the unbalanced

female student who threatens to file a bogus sexual harassment suit

against him. The play was done a few years ago, brilliantly, at South

Coast Repertory.

Performances will be given 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays

through Feb. 25 in the Drama Lab Studio. Tickets may be reserved by

calling (714) 432-5640, Ext. 1.

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His columns appear Thursdays and Saturdays.