‘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.
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