‘Bye Bye Birdie’ recalls nifty ‘50s

TOM TITUS

If you think pop culture follows current events these days, hearken

back to the late 1950s when Elvis Presley was drafted into the Army.

Almost immediately, Michael Stewart (book), Charles Strauss (music)

and Lee Adams (lyrics) started working on the Broadway musical “Bye

Bye Birdie.”

In this sheer escapist package of energetic entertainment, an

Elvis-like singer -- title character Conrad Birdie -- gets his

“greetings” from Uncle Sam, which spurs a songwriter and his

enterprising secretary/fiancee into action. They’ll write a song,

“One Last Kiss,” and Conrad will bestow the same on a teenage Birdie

fan picked at random in Sweet Apple, Ohio.

The result, predictably enough, is pandemonium, a state that the

Huntington Beach Playhouse has gleefully incorporated in its zesty

revival of “Bye Bye Birdie.” Director-choreographer Michael Lopez has

mounted a fun-filled package that nostalgically recalls the Fifties

(for those of us who remember them) while nudging that vanilla decade

in the ribs now and then.

This is a show that cries for over-presentation, which a few of

its cast members deliver ecstatically. Only the two biggest

caricatures -- Birdie himself and Albert’s long-suffering mother --

could use a few more slices of pure, uncured ham in their

interpretations.

The songwriter, Albert Peterson, is deftly portrayed by Duane

Allen Thomas as a fellow trying to juggle a hit song, an impatient

girlfriend, a rock legend and the mother of all guilt trippers.

Thomas smoothly incorporates all these elements into a highly

pleasing characterization.

As Rosie, his impatient significant other, Thomas’ offstage wife,

Jennifer Storey-Thomas, does the honors delightfully. She’s content

to inhabit a background assignment until the obligatory breakup in

the second act, whereupon she tears up the stage with her “Spanish

Rose” number and a frisky romp with some Future Farmers of America

(switched from the original tipsy Shriners).

The standout of the cast, however, is teenager Skye Bronfenbrenner

in what will forever be known as “the Ann-Margret role” of Sweet

Apple sweetie Kim McAfee. Bronfenbrenner kicks up a storm in her

production numbers and renders a feisty, rebellious character as she

faces off with her parents and her puzzled boyfriend over the

aforementioned “one last kiss.”

As her outraged but publicity-hungry father, playhouse executive

producer James Gruessing Jr. wrenches all the showy comedy inherent

in his part, excelling in the numbers “Kids” and “Hymn for a Sunday

Evening,” a paean to the Ed Sullivan Show.

Johnny Kaye gives his Birdie the requisite sullen sexiness, but

rarely approaches teen idol territory, and he appears to already have

gotten his military haircut -- no Elvis-like locks here. Valerie

Speaks likewise stops short of the outrageous lampoonery inherent in

the role of Albert’s overbearing mother -- though she hits a few fine

marks in her second act emoting.

Other fine performances are notched by Jackie Gannon as Kim’s

concerned mother, Marc Cohen as her young son, Christopher Guerra as

Kim’s sullen swain and Stacey Porterfield in a flashy cameo as a

prospective secretarial replacement.

Ensemble numbers such as “The Telephone Hour,” “Honestly Sincere”

and “I’ve Got a Lot of Living to Do” are splendidly staged by Lopez

and music director Vern Nelson. Gruessing does fine double duty as

set designer and carpenter on a multi-set production.

“Bye Bye Birdie” is an ideal showcase for teenage talent, and the

Huntington Beach Playhouse has a ton of it here. Those who are

through celebrating Elvis Presley’s recent 70th birthday will find

the production thoroughly enjoyable.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.