My First Off-Broadway Show

Over the years, I have seen hundreds of shows in New York. And while most have been on the Great White Way, I have always had a little place in my heart for what I like to call it's "Little Brother". Otherwise known as Off-Broadway. In the Spring of 1992, I was a student at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Between classes, and rehearsals, I didn't really have a lot of free time. However when I did, it was usually spent sitting in a theatre watching a show. Now since I was a poor acting student, I didn't have a whole lot of money.

Which is why every show I saw my first year or two, were free tickets I got thru my school. It's how I saw Tony Award winning musicals like Miss Saigon, The Secret Garden, Jelly's Last Jam, and classic plays like August Wilson's Two Trains Running, and Neil Simon's Lost In Yonkers. But today's blog is not about how many Broadway shows that I have seen. It's about my first Off-Broadway show. Which believe it or not, was only a block away from my school. The show? Forever Plaid? The venue? The former Steve McGraw's on West 72nd Street, now known as The Triad.

Now for those of you that are not familiar with the show, it's a musical revue about the Plaids, an all male quartet set in the 1950's, who while in the midst of pursuing a recording career, are tragically killed when a bus carrying a group of Catholic school girls on their way to see The Beatles American debut on the Ed Sullivan show, crashes into them. O.K. O.K., I know it sounds a little morbid. But trust me, once you get past the little thing about them dying, it's actually a lot of fun.

Of course it helps that it has tons of great tunes from the era including, "Three Coins In The Fountain", "Sixteen Tons", "Chain Gang", "Lady of Spain", "Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing", and many, many more. The show, which enjoyed a four year run, continues to play at regional and community theatres, and high school and colleges around the country. Not bad for a little show that first premiered at a small supper club on West 42nd Street over thirty years ago. Oh and the date that the show opened on West 72nd Street? May 20, 1989. Thirty-one years ago today. Stay safe everyone, and don't forget to look out for each other.

JWB
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