Before the Bee Gees, before the Beatles, before Elvis, there were the Four Aces, Four Coins, Four Lads and the Ames Brothers.

The boy groups who preceded 'NSync and the Backstreet Boys by 50 years led the hit parade with Three Coins in a Fountain, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, Shangri-La and Moments to Remember.

Those many-splendored days are recaptured in Unity Theatre's production of the off-Broadway hit Forever Plaid.

A car carrying four high school buddies to perform at a concert that they hope will lead to recording an album is hit by a bus full of Catholic schoolgirls on their way to see the Beatles. The Great Harmonizer in the Sky gives the guys a second chance to sing in the concert-that-never-was.

Along with the songs mentioned above, the quartet sings Rags to Riches, Lady of Spain, Heart and Soul and No, Not Much.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays beginning this week and running through July 13.

Tickets are $10 for the first Thursday and $22 for the rest of the shows at www.unitybrenham.org.

The theater is at 300 Church St. in Brenham.

TROUPE shines

Brazos Valley TROUPE made a great showing at the annual Texas Nonprofit Theaters Youth Conference in Denton

TROUPE's Ray Paul Marshall joined former TROUPE actor Michael Lane as the only TROUPE performers to win all-star cast awards three times. Chantal Bonilla was named to the all-star cast for the first time.

Josh Neff and Claire Chabot received the Gilmore Spirit Award. And for the third straight year, TROUPE won the Esprit de Corps award for outstanding group spirit and participation.

Artistic director M.A. Sterling was honored with the Linda Lee Leadership Award and also captured the dubious honor of being the director most people wanted to see covered with whipped cream.

During the week of the competition, participants were encouraged to donate money to determine which director would be the target of a pie fusillade.

When the final accounting was made, it was Sterling who stood in the center of a giant tarp while the other 14 directors bombarded him with pies. The event raised $600.

Attending for TROUPE were Marshall, Neff, Bonilla, Chabot, Mollie Rush, Gatlin Giese, Anna Swink, Casey Gomez, Adrienne Wythe, Brianna Buth, Kelli Cooks and Ethan Guthrie.

TROUPE salutes

Brazos Valley TROUPE's annual patriotic revue "MusicAmericana" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. June 29 at 3705 E. 29th St. in Bryan's Town & Country Center.

The company's theater has recently undergone a renovation, and this will be the first production in the revamped space.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and $6 for TROUPE members, students and children.

For reservations, call 846-4903.

Classical concerts

• The University Summer Performance Series will present "Double Fantasy" at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Texas A&M University's Rudder Theater.

The program consists of Fantasy Pieces for Viola and Piano, Op. 73, by Robert Schumann; Etudes and a Fantasy for Winds by Elliott Carter; Fantasy for Violin and Piano by Pablo de Sarasate; Fantasy Quartet for Oboe and Strings by Benjamin Britten; and Suite for Two Tubas by John Stevens.

Tickets are $5 for students and $15 for nonstudents at the Memorial Student Center box office on campus (845-1234).

• The St. Cecilia Consort will present "Celebrating the Summer Solstice" this evening at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 906 George Bush Drive in College Station.

The performance will begin at 7:30.

Musicians and vocalists will perform compositions from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras on period instruments.

Admission is free.

• The International Festival-Institute at Round Top will present concerts at 8 p.m. Friday; 1:30, 3:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 3 p.m. June 29.

The Friday concert will feature the Synergy Brass Quintet.

The first recital Saturday will have Basil Reeve on oboe, Stephen Balderston on cello and James Dick on piano.

The second Saturday offering will be chamber music by Bach, Haydn and Messiaen.

The Saturday night presentation will be by the festival orchestra under the direction of Charles Olivieri-Munroe.

Tickets are $10 to $20 at www.festivalhill.org.

The annual patriotic concert will be at 3 p.m. June 29.

Tickets are $20 for students and $30 for nonstudents.

'Cowgirls' auditions

Navasota Theatre Alliance will present a rare opportunity for classical and country musicians to become actors.

Auditions for Cowgirls will be at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Sunny Furman Theater, 104 W. Washington St. in Navasota.

The cast calls for three classically trained musicians (piano, cello and violin) and three who can play banjo, fiddle and honky-tonk piano.

The story begins with Jo trying to save her father's saloon from foreclosure. She figures a country concert is the way to do it, so she books the Cowgirl Trio to perform.

Because of a misunderstanding, the Coghill Trio chamber music ensemble shows up.

Director Charles Pitman promises a lot of fun to anyone who auditions. The three-weekend show will open Aug. 14.

Last of Willie

The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) continues at StageCenter, 201-B W. 26th St. in Bryan, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and senior citizens, $6 for children at the Arts Council of Brazos Valley, 2275 Dartmouth St. in College Station, and at the door. All Thursday tickets are $6.

For reservations, call 823-4297.

Quartet honored

The Marian Anderson String Quartet will receive a proclamation from Bryan Mayor Mark Conlee at 6 p.m. July 8 at the Bryan Municipal Building, 29th Street at Texas Avenue.

The honor acknowledges the accomplishments of the ensemble, which consists of Marianne Henry and Nicole Cherry on violin, Diedra Lawrence on viola and Prudence McDaniel on cello.

The ensemble-in-residence at Texas A&M recently completed its third annual Chamber Music Institute, which drew 60 students from throughout the country.

• Jim Butler's e-mail address is jim.butler@theeagle.com.