We love you, Conrad, and your 49 costars

SHERWOOD KIRALY

The Park Avenue Players will perform “Bye Bye Birdie” three more

times at the high school’s Artists’ Theatre -- tonight, Saturday

night and Sunday afternoon. I don’t know if you can still get seats,

but you should try.

Director Mark Dressler specializes in energetic, large-cast shows,

and doesn’t hesitate to take on productions that some might think

daunting for high schoolers. “Bye Bye Birdie” has a cast of 50 and

one frenetic production number after another. It also has 27

wagonloads of set and costume changes.

A bonus for the Kiralys is that it has our daughter Katie as stage

manager, in her first go-round with the players.

We were thrilled when we learned Katie was making her maiden

voyage in the theater, and we encouraged her as she worked her way

through the rehearsal period. Of course, as an old theater major I

had plenty of experience to pass along -- none of which applied to

her job, but you can’t put a price on old theater stories. Or at

least, I haven’t been able to.

By the time the show opened we knew Katie would be up in the booth

with headphones on, giving lighting cues. So Patti Jo and I attended

with the usual opening-night audience anticipation, plus an added

soupcon of anxiety about whether the actors would be visible when

they needed to be. Nothing kills a big number like darkness.

We leaned forward in our seats as the house lights went down, for

what seemed like forever. They came up on a great time.

“Birdie” is a light-hearted look at the era during which Elvis

Presley was drafted. It revolves around rock legend Conrad Birdie,

played with appropriate sneer and tilt-a-whirl pelvis by junior Drew

Cuddy.

This show is at its best recalling the sweet goofiness of early

rock idolatry, but there is also some fine suburban comedy and

several classic standards (“Put On a Happy Face,” “A Lot of Livin’ to

Do,” “One Boy,” “Kids”), plus a couple of electrifying solo dances

from senior Alex Murrel as Rosie. The ensemble pieces do what

ensemble pieces often fail to do -- they wow the house.

We stopped worrying 15 minutes in and just enjoyed ourselves

thereafter along with everybody else. We could see the show was a

hit, and most important, we could see the show.

So squeeze into the Artists’ Theatre if you can before the show

closes. It’ll pep you up. A good musical injects energy into the

audience. I’m no dancer myself; I get tired sitting up straight. But

a show like this exhilarates me and limbers me up. On opening night I

went home singing and walked the dog two

extra blocks.