UWP’s Heartland brings sounds of the ‘50s to opening night audience of ‘Forever Plaid’

PLATTEVILLE — The University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Heartland Festival brought audience members back to the nostalgic days of the ‘50s with the opening performance of “Forever Plaid” on June 26.

Paul Helm, Ryan Odorizzi, Jason Slattery and John Hassig used their perfectly harmonic voices to tell the story of a semi-professional harmony group who were killed in 1964, while driving their cherry red mercury camaro to a performance. The show centered around the harmony group, called “The Plaids,” who, now in heaven, gave the audience a chance to see the show they never got to perform.

With assistance from Terry Dillon on the piano and Nadine Enberg on Bass, The Plaids mixed humor with classic songs from the 50’s. Songs included “Three Coins In the Fountain,” “Gotta Be This or That,” “Crazy ‘Bout Ya Baby,” “Catch a Falling Star,” and “Heart and Soul.” The Plaids had audience members playing the bongos in “Caribbean Plaid,” and got audience members involved during “Heart and Soul” by inviting them on stage to assist with piano playing and a little dancing.

Amanda and Alyssa Zasada, twins from Platteville, are big fans of Heartland Festival and Amanda can be seen in the upcoming performance of “Godspell Jr.” They thought “Forever Plaid” was “amazing and hilarious.” “The harmony and barbershop style was so fun to listen to,” they said. “The four ‘Plaids’ had a powerful range and there was such a variety between songs.”

Lori Hillery-Hassig is the musical director of “Godspell Jr.” and came to support her fellow Heartland members, including her husband, John Hassig, who played one of the Plaids and directs the Heartland Festival. “This is the first time I heard the entire group perform together, and they did an unbelievable job,” said Hillery-Hassig. “The harmonies were tight and no one was out of tune.”

There will be more opportunities to enjoy sounds of the ‘50s throughout the summer. Performances of “Forever Plaid” will take place July 5 and 19 at 2 p.m. and July 11,15,16, 23, 25 and 28 at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 1 at 2 p.m. and Aug. 7 at 7:30 p.m. All performances will be held in the Center for the Arts theatre on the UWP campus. Ticket are $19 for adults and $9 for UWP students with a valid ID and individuals under the age of 18. Tickets are available through the University Box Office at (608) 342-1298 or www.uwplatt.edu/arts/cfa/information/office.html.

Contact: John Hassig, director of UWP Performing and Visual Arts Programs and Facilities, (608) 342-1267, hassigj@uwplatt.edu
Written by: Anne Killian, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, killiana@uwplatt.edu