Bye Bye Birdie
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Bye Bye Birdie is a Broadway musical satire on American society written by Michael Stewart (book), Lee Adams (lyrics), and Charles Strouse (music). It was first performed in New York City's Martin Beck Theatre on April 14, 1960, directed by Gower Champion.
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[edit] Story
The fictional story takes place in 1958, centering around Conrad Birdie, a hip-thrusting rock and roll superstar akin to Elvis Presley, Conrad's agent and songwriter, Albert Peterson, and Albert's secretary and love, Rose Alvarez (Rose Grant or Rose DeLeon in some versions), who hails from Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Albert finds himself in trouble when Conrad is drafted into the army (as did Presley), but Rose comes up with a last-ditch publicity stunt to premier one last hit Conrad Birdie record before he is sent to the army - making Albert promise to give up the music business and become an English teacher after. They plan to have Conrad sing Peterson's new song "One Last Kiss" on live television, and give one lucky girl from his fan club a real 'one last kiss' on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' before going off to war.
The lucky girl is chosen randomly from Conrad's national fan club, and it happens to be Kim MacAfee. Rose, Conrad, and Albert set off to her house in Sweet Apple, Ohio 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 the show business life and tries to teach the kids how to party - ultimately getting himself in trouble with the kids' parents and the police.
[edit] Films
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 Alvarez, though in this film her last name was 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 show's box office success upon release, some critics claim it made average use of the talents of Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh. Some praise the movie as a classic example of '60s camp, others claim average production values, rewriting of the script, changes in the musical score, and average choreography in some songs left what some called a different story but with the same title. Van Dyke does a superb job in the feature duet song with Janet Leigh, "Put On A Happy Face". Neither Van Dyke nor Lynde cared much for the changes in the movie, as both had starred in the Broadway play. Van Dyke reportedly asked friends not to see it.
A new adaptation for television was made in 1995. It starred Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame in the role of Albert Peterson and Grammy nominated singer/actress Vanessa Williams as Rose Alvarez. Actress Tyne Daly, who had starred in a revival of Gypsy a few years before, played the extravagant and over-bearing mother of Albert, Mae Peterson. Veteran Broadway actor Marc Kudisch who played Conrad Birdie on tour opposite Tommy Tune reprised the role. Eighties pop sensation Chynna Phillips played Kim MacAfee, and George Wendt played her father, Harry MacAfee. While this version remained mostly true to the original play, several songs were added. These additional songs included "Let's Settle Down," "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore," and "A Giant Step."
[edit] Song list
Note: Original and new scripts differ in song content and order
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
[edit] Original cast
| Albert Peterson | Dick Van Dyke |
| Rose Alvarez | Chita Rivera |
| Conrad Birdie | Dick Gautier |
| Kim MacAfee | Susan Watson |
| Mr. MacAfee | Paul Lynde |
| Mrs. MacAfee | Marijane Maricle |
| Mrs. Peterson | Kay Medford |
| Ursula Merkle | Barbara Doherty |
| Mr. Henkel | Charles Nelson Reilly |
[edit] Trivia
- The show's original title was Let's Go Steady.
- 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.
- Paul Lynde, who played Harry MacAfee, was born and raised in Mount Vernon, Ohio, just south of Mansfield.
- Famous alumni of Bye Bye Birdie include Tommy Tune, Steve Zahn, Doris Roberts, Rue McClanahan, Gary Sandy, Randy Jones of the Village People, Marc Kudisch, Rachel Bilson, Jeff Trachta, Dick Van Dyke, Chita Rivera, Paul Lynde, Ann-Margret, Bobby Rydell, Jason Alexander, Vanessa L. Williams, Chynna Phillips, George Wendt, Kevin McCurrach, Rosie Forst, Kyle Spratley, Jeff Hubbell, Tracy Schut, Melissa Appleton, Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Tyne Daly.
- 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
- The musical, "Bye Bye Birdie" was discussed in Disney Channel's "The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody" (The episode Birdman of Boston) Mr. Moseby was being annoyed by a hawk and shouted "Bye Bye Birdie"! as Patrick cried, "Oh, I love that musical!"
- Put on a Happy Face has been used in various television commercials. It was used by Wal-Mart in the 2000s for an advertising campaign with its smiley logo. Also, it was used 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 phrase "Put on a Happy Face" was used in the song "Let's Build a Snowman!" in Trey Parker and Matt Stone's first feature film, Cannibal the Musical.
- The sequel, Bring Back Birdie, starring Chita Rivera from Bye Bye Birdie's original Broadway run, opened for previews on January 26, 1981 on Broadway before beginning its run on March 5. It lasted for four performances before closing on March 7, 1981.
- The song Put On A Happy Face was also used for a cold sore commercial. Instead of it beginning with Grey Skies Are Gonna Clear Up, it was Cold Sores Are Gonna Clear Up.
