bye bye birdie
A fun, high-spirited show with a good mix of guy/girl roles. If you're younger, or can pull of more of the ingenue look, you're gonna want to go for Kim. She has a nice soprano and should be a good actress. If you'd rather play a more mature role, Rose is another awesome part. She should have a good belt and lots of sass. Stage presence is important. For guys, there's the lead, Conrad Birdie, or the slightly distracted Albert, a fun character role. If you're not as much of a singer, but have the acting chops, both the parents are fun roles. If you're a girl, however, the grandmother is particularly hilarious. There's also a nice featured ensemble of girls.
NOTE: There is a film version, but it's not completely true to the musical, so watch it with a grain of salt.
NOTE: There is a film version, but it's not completely true to the musical, so watch it with a grain of salt.
summary
Bye Bye Birdie tells the story of a rock and roll singer who is about to be
inducted into the army. The singer, Conrad Birdie, an Elvis Presley type, has a
pompadour and thick sideburns, he wears gaudy gold costumes and speaks in a
rugged voice. Albert Peterson, his agent, is a very pleasant mild mannered
type. It is his faithful secretary Rose Alvarez, that keeps him and Birdie
moving forward in the world. Rosie concocts one final national publicity plan
before Conrad’s induction. He will bid a typical American Teen-age girl goodbye
with an all-American kiss. Kim MacAfee in Sweet Apple, Ohio wins the honor. All
of the phones in her home town are busy during The Telephone Hour as she has
just been pinned to Hugo, a local boy. She is a fetching girl of fifteen and
sings with spring-like ardor How Lovely To Be a Woman, as she pulls on the
plaid woolen socks and the baggy mustard colored sweater that characterize
loveliness on young ladies today. The arrival of Birdie in Sweet Apple causes
wholesale swooning, by both the old and young. Birdie says that his success is
due to the fact that he is Honestly Sincere when he sings, and the quiet little
town goes into a spin. The MacAfee household is completely upset by the
visiting dignitary. It is decided that Birdie will give his One Last Kiss on
the Ed Sullivan show. Kim’s father, who laments the whole uproar, tries to
break into the act and behaves like a ham on the TV show. Birdie becomes
disgusted with his life and sprints out of the town with the teenagers. He
feels tense with Albert and is tired of being watched over. The parents of
Sweet Apple cannot understand the new generation and express this in Kids.
Rosie, still waiting for that band of gold from Albert after eight years,
decides to become the Latin American spitfire that she is painted as by
Albert’s lead footed catastrophe ridden mother. She is determined to become
Spanish Rose. Kim is reunited with Hugo and Rose with Albert in the lovely
number Rosie. Others hit numbers include A Lot of Livin’ to Do and Put On a
Happy Face.
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