Bye Bye Birdie
Bye Bye Birdie is a Tony Award-winning musical with a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.
Originally titled Let's Go Steady, the satire on American society is set in 1958 and focuses on Conrad Birdie, a hip-thrusting, rock and roll superstar (a la Elvis Presley) from Allentown, Pennsylvania, his agent and songwriter Albert Peterson, and Albert's secretary and sweetheart Rose Alvarez (aka Rose Grant or Rose DeLeon in later versions).
Productions
Produced by Edward Padula and directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, the Broadway production opened on April 14 1960 at the Martin Beck Theatre, transferring to the 54th Street Theatre and then the Shubert to complete its 607-performance run. The original cast included Dick Van Dyke, Chita Rivera, Dick Gautier, Susan Watson, and Paul Lynde. Replacements later in the run included Gene Rayburn as Albert and Gretchen Wyler as Rose.
Rivera reprised her role of Rosie opposite Peter Marshall as Albert and Marty Wilde as Conrad in the 1961 West End production, which ran for 268 performances. She also starred in an ill-fated 1981 sequel entitled Bring Back Birdie, which closed after four performances.
Among those who have appeared in various productions of Bye Bye Birdie are Tommy Tune, Steve Zahn, Doris Roberts, Rue McClanahan, Gary Sandy, Randy Jones, Marc Kudisch, Rachel Bilson, Ann-Margret, Bobby Rydell, Jason Alexander, Vanessa L. Williams, Chynna Phillips, George Wendt, Gene Rayburn, and Tyne Daly.
Synopsis
Albert finds himself in trouble when Conrad is drafted into the army, but Rose comes up with a last-ditch publicity stunt to premiere one last hit Conrad Birdie record before he is sent to the army — and makes Albert promise to give up the music business and become an English teacher. They plan to have Conrad sing Peterson's new song "One Last Kiss" and give one lucky girl from his fan club a real "one last kiss" on The Ed Sullivan Show before heading off to basic training.
The lucky girl chosen randomly from Conrad's national fan club is Kim MacAfee from Sweet Apple, Ohio. Conrad, Albert, and Rose set off to her house to prepare for the event. However, things don't go quite as planned; Kim's father becomes obsessed with the prospect of being on The Ed Sullivan Show alongside his daughter, Kim's boyfriend becomes disastrously jealous of Conrad, Albert's mother comes to break up Albert's relationship with Rose, and Conrad himself becomes tired of show business and tries to teach the kids how to party, ultimately getting himself in trouble with their parents and the police.
Original Broadway cast
- Dick Van Dyke . . . Albert
- Chita Rivera . . . Rosie
- Dick Gautier . . . Conrad
- Susan Watson . . . Kim
- Paul Lynde. . . Mr. MacAfee
- Marijane Maricle . . . Mrs. MacAfee
- Kay Medford . . . Mrs. Peterson
- Michael J. Pollard . . . Hugo Peabody
- Barbara Doherty . . . Ursula Merkle
- Charles Nelson Reilly . . . Mr. Henkel
- Cordell Wattley . . . Black Elvis
Song list
Act I
- Overture
- An English Teacher
- The Telephone Hour
- How Lovely To Be A Woman
- Put On A Happy Face
- A Healthy, Normal, American Boy
- One Boy
- Honestly Sincere
- Hymn For A Sunday Evening
- One Hundred Ways Ballet (dance only)
- One Last Kiss
Act II
- Entr'acte
- What Did I Ever See In Him?
- A Lot Of Livin' To Do
- Kids
- Baby, Talk To Me
- Shriner's Ballet (dance only)
- Kids (Reprise)
- Spanish Rose
- Rosie
- Finale
Cast and other recordings
- Original Broadway Cast on Columbia Masterworks (1960)
- Original London Cast on Decca Records (1961)
- Bye Bye Birdie: All the Great Songs Recorded by Bobby Rydell on Cameo Records (1962)
- Studio Cast Recording featuring James Darren, Shelley Fabares, Paul Peterson, and the Marcels on Colpix Records (1963)
- Film Soundtrack on RCA Records (1964)
- Television Soundtrack on RCA Records (1995)
Awards and nominations
- Tony Award for Best Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Van Dyke, winner; Gautier, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Rivera, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for a Musical (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Choreography (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director (nominee)
Film adaptations
Bye Bye Birdie was first adapted to film in 1963. It starred Dick Van Dyke as Albert Peterson, Maureen Stapleton as Mama Mae Peterson, Janet Leigh as Rose DeLeon, Paul Lynde as Mr. MacAfee, and Ann-Margret as Kim MacAfee. The role of teen idol Conrad Birdie was played by Jesse Pearson. Ed Sullivan makes a substantial guest appearance. The flow of the story differs from the musical. The film is credited with making Ann-Margret a superstar during the mid-1960s, leading to her appearing with the real Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas.
Despite the film's box office success upon release, some critics claimed it made average use of the talents of Van Dyke and Leigh [citation needed]. Some praise the movie as a classic example of 1960s camp [citation needed], others claim average production values, rewriting of the script, changes in the musical score, and average choreography in some songs left a different story but with the same title [citation needed]. Neither Van Dyke nor Lynde cared much for the changes in the movie [citation needed], and Van Dyke reportedly asked friends not to see it [citation needed].
A new adaptation was made for television in 1995. It starred Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame in the role of Albert Peterson and Grammy Award-nominated singer/actress Vanessa Williams as Rose Alvarez. Actress Tyne Daly played Albert's extravagant and over-bearing mother Mae Peterson. Broadway actor Marc Kudisch, who played Conrad Birdie on tour opposite Tommy Tune, reprised the role. 1980s pop music sensation Chynna Phillips played Kim MacAfee, and George Wendt played her father Harry. While this version remained mostly true to the original play, several songs were added, including "Let's Settle Down," "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore," and "A Giant Step."
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- This movie ranked number 38 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
- A duet between Rose and Kim, "Older and Wiser", was cut during try-outs and replaced with "What Did I Ever See in Him".
- The name Conrad Birdie was a play off of the name Conway Twitty, who at the time was more of a rock-and-roller than a country singer.
- The location of "Sweet Apple, Ohio" was inspired by lyricist Lee Adams' hometown of Mansfield, Ohio.
- Bye Bye Birdie is often parodied on cartoons, including a "Telephone Hour" parody in Family Guy episode "Petarded", and a "Kids" parody in The Simpsons episode "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken".
- "Telephone Hour" was used in an episode of The Daily Show to explain the Valerie Plame Scandal
- Put on a Happy Face has been used in various television commercials, including for Wal-Mart in the 2000s for an advertising campaign with its smiley logo and in the early 1970s for a Kool-Aid commercial featuring a very young Jimmy Osmond. However, another use for Put on a Happy Face was in the BBC television programme Keeping Up Appearances. In that show's Christmas special "Sea Fever", the song is used as dance music aboard the QE2 when Hyacinth Bucket finds out that her brother-in-law Onslow won a cruise from horse racing.
- The song Put On A Happy Face was also used for a cold sore medicine commercial. Instead of it beginning with Grey Skies Are Gonna Clear Up, it was Cold Sores Are Gonna Clear Up.[citation needed]