SHANNON group Muse Productions are to stage Forever Plaid at the Hope Cafe this week.
Director Martin McNelis said that it is a very interesting production, which few people will have seen before. “It has a really small cast, there’s only four in the cast and two musicians. It’s very much a case of us trying to do something different. Obviously people are used to the large scale musicals or even plays, but it’s very rare that you get to see something like this, where it’s a small cast musical in a small venue.”
Youth will have its fling through the show. “We’re trying to give opportunities to as many young people as we can. There are four young guys in the cast, they are playing a barbershop quartet. Then as musicians we have Shannon Hegarty, who is a young, up and coming, Cork School of Music graduate. We also have my own daughter Cliodhnna, she’s the chorus mistress, she has taught all the music. It’s very much a case of trying to use all the young talent we have in the region to bring something new to the Shannon audiences that they’re unlikely to have seen.”
It is being choreographed by Gary Loughnane, with help from Avril Healy.
Martin had long held an ambition to do Forever Plaid. “Going back about 31 years ago, Gary Loughnane and Aidan Fox and myself were in a musical called Half a Sixpence, and there was one song that was a four part close harmony, the three of us and John Madigan were in that. At the time we were saying we’d love to do more Barbershop. I found out about this show Forever Plaid that had come out in 1990. We kept on talking about how we should do it. It never happened, but it was always in the back of my head. When we had a group of young lads with the ability and talent to do it, I thought maybe that’s still available. I went looking for it, found it was available and had never been done. It’s been kind of on the back burner for about 30 years!”
It wasn’t always easy to rehearse during the summer, but he feels they are ready. “All the work is done and it’s a difficult one to pull off over the summer, you have to cater for holidays and people being away. Over the last six weeks we only had one week where all the guys were available. It was challenging but they have put in a huge amount of work, it has really been a labour of love for them. Two of them live in the same house, all four of them are friends, so apart from the rehearsals they have spent a lot of their own time on it, they are constantly working on it. It’s very difficult what they’re doing. A four part close harmony is very challenging, it’s kind of a lost art, it hasn’t been done much since the 50s and 60s.”
He is looking forward to bringing it to the stage. “I won’t be nervous, I’m sure the lads will be, but I have no doubt they will be brilliant. There’s great comedy in it, it just needs an audience to really bring it to life. They’ve done all the work, they just need to relax and enjoy it.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.