Bye Bye Birdie
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| Bye Bye Birdie | |
| Image:ByeByeBirdie1.jpg | |
| Original Broadway cast album | |
|---|---|
| Music | Charles Strouse |
| Lyrics | Lee Adams |
| Book | Michael Stewart |
| Productions | 1960 Broadway 1961 West End 1963 film 1995 Television |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Musical |
Bye Bye Birdie is a Tony Award-winning musical with a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.
Contents |
[edit] Productions
Produced by Edward Padula and directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, the Broadway production opened on April 14 1960 at the Martin Beck Theatre, transferring to the 54th Street Theatre and then the Shubert to complete its 607-performance run. The original cast included Dick Van Dyke, Chita Rivera, Dick Gautier, Susan Watson, Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly. Replacements later in the run included Gene Rayburn as Albert and Gretchen Wyler as Rose.
Rivera reprised her role of Rosie opposite Peter Marshall as Albert and Marty Wilde as Conrad in the 1961 West End production, which ran for 268 performances. She also starred in an ill-fated 1981 sequel entitled Bring Back Birdie, which closed after four performances.
Charles Nelson Reilly also understudied for Lynde and Van Dyke and appeared in their roles periodically throughout the play's original run.
Among those who have appeared in various productions of Bye Bye Birdie are Tommy Tune, Steve Zahn, Doris Roberts, Rue McClanahan, Gary Sandy, Randy Jones, Marc Kudisch, Rachel Bilson, Ann-Margret, Bobby Rydell, Jason Alexander, Vanessa L. Williams, Chynna Phillips, George Wendt, Gene Rayburn, and Tyne Daly.
[edit] Film adaptations
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 DeLeon, Paul Lynde as Mr. MacAfee, Bobby Rydell as Hugo Peabody, and Ann-Margret as Kim MacAfee. Jesse Pearson played the role of teen idol Conrad Birdie. Ed Sullivan makes a substantial guest appearance. The plot and character relationships are significantly different 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 film's box office success upon release, some critics claimed it made average use of the talents of Van Dyke and Leigh[citation needed]. Some praise the movie as a classic example of 1960s camp[citation needed], others claim average production values, rewriting of the script, changes in the musical score, and average choreography in some songs left a different story but with the same title[citation needed]. Neither Van Dyke nor Lynde cared much for the changes in the movie[citation needed], and Van Dyke reportedly asked friends not to see it[citation needed].
A new adaptation was made for television in 1995. It starred Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame in the role of Albert Peterson and Grammy Award-nominated singer/actress Vanessa L. Williams as Rose Alvarez. Actress Tyne Daly played Albert's extravagant and over-bearing mother Mae Peterson. Broadway actor Marc Kudisch, who played Conrad Birdie on tour opposite Tommy Tune, reprised the role. 1980s pop music sensation Chynna Phillips played Kim MacAfee, and George Wendt played her father Harry. While this version remained mostly true to the original play, several songs were added, including "Let's Settle Down," "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore," and "A Giant Step."
[edit] Synopsis
Albert finds himself in trouble when Conrad is drafted into the army, but Rosie comes up with a last-ditch publicity stunt to premiere one last hit Conrad Birdie record before he is sent to the army—and makes Albert promise to give up the music business and become an English teacher. They plan to have Conrad sing Peterson's new song "One Last Kiss" and give one lucky girl from his fan club a real "one last kiss" on The Ed Sullivan Show before heading off to basic training.
The lucky girl chosen randomly from Conrad's national fan club is Kim MacAfee from Sweet Apple, Ohio. Conrad, Albert, and Rosie set off to her house to prepare for the event. However, things do not 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 Rosie, and Conrad himself becomes tired of show business and tries to teach the kids how to party, ultimately getting himself in trouble with their parents and the police.
Several significant changes were made in the plot and character relationships in the 1963 film version: Albert is not Birdie's agent but contributed to his initial success on some way, and therefore Birdie "owes" him a favor; Albert is a talented research chemist who is struggling as a songwriter only to please his overbearing mother; Albert has not written "One Last Kiss" when Rosie pitches the idea to Sullivan.
The film version of "A Lot Of Livin' To Do" features Pearson, Ann-Margret and Rydell in a colorful song-and-dance number that is staged to suggest that Kim and Hugo are trying to make each other jealous, but there is no suggestion during the number or after it that any under-age drinking or sexual activity is going on.
The film version also ends on a much brighter and lighter note. Hugo prevents the "last kiss" by running out on stage, punching Conrad, and knocking him out with a single punch "live" on The Ed Sullivan Show; in doing so he wins Kim's heart and the young couple is reunited. Albert's mother shows up with a man in tow, informs Albert and Rosie that she has married him, and gives Albert and Rosie her blessing for their long-postponed wedding.
The film then ends with Ann-Margret singing a slightly revised version of the title song: "Bye bye, Birdie, the Army's got you now..."
There is no suggestion that Conrad got tired of show business, or that he suffered anything other than the embarrassment of being knocked out before a "live" audience of millions of viewers of The Ed Sullivan Show.
[edit] Original Broadway cast
- Dick Van Dyke . . . Albert
- Chita Rivera. . . Rosie
- Dick Gautier . . . Conrad
- Susan Watson . . . Kim
- Paul Lynde. . . Mr. MacAfee
- Marijane Maricle . . . Mrs. MacAfee
- Kay Medford . . . Mrs. Peterson
- Michael J. Pollard . . . Hugo Peabody
- Barbara Doherty . . . Ursula Merkle
- Charles Nelson Reilly . . . Mr. Henkel
- Jasnick Williams. . .Sad Girl
[edit] Song list
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[edit] Cast and other recordings
- Original Broadway Cast on Columbia Masterworks (1960)
- Original London Cast on Decca Records (1961)
- Bye Bye Birdie: All the Great Songs Recorded by Bobby Rydell on Cameo Records (1962)
- Studio Cast Recording featuring James Darren, Shelley Fabares, Paul Peterson, and the Marcels on Colpix Records (1963)
- Film Soundtrack on RCA Records (1964)
- Television Soundtrack on RCA Records (1995)
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Tony Award for Best Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Van Dyke, winner; Gautier, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Rivera, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for a Musical (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Choreography (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director (nominee)
[edit] Trivia
| Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The film version ranked number 38 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
- In the Xena musical episode Lyre Lyre Hearts on Fire, the opening number is a parody of "The Telephone Hour".
- 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.
- Put on a Happy Face has been used in various television commercials, including for Wal-Mart in the 2000s for an advertising campaign with its smiley logo and 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 program 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 song Put On A Happy Face was also used for a cold sore medicine commercial. Instead of "Grey Skies Are Gonna Clear Up", the jingle ran, "Cold Sores Are Gonna Clear Up..."
- Bye, Bye, Birdie was mentioned in the Disney Channel Original Series, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. In the episode, "Birdman of Boston", Mr. Moseby was furious that the hawk ruined an engagement at the Tipton Hotel Restaurant. Patrick Bristow, the waiter, starts talking about Bye Bye Birdie once Mr. Moseby says that the hawk is going away. Patrick starts rambling on about the musical, highlighting "The Telephone Hour" number.
- A parody of Bye, Bye, Birdie was done in the animated show Home Movies in the third episode of the fourth season called Bye Bye Greasy. The episode involved the main characters directing and performing in a school play named Bye Bye Greasy. The plot of the play featured a mix of other works including Grease, and Rebel Without a Cause.
[edit] External links
- Bye Bye Birdie at the Internet Broadway Database
- Bye Bye Birdie at the Internet Movie Database
- Bye Bye Birdie at the Internet Movie Database
- Cast Album Database listing
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Sound of Music | Tony Award for Best Musical 1961 | Succeeded by How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying |
| Preceded by Fiorello! | ||
Charles Strouse musicals |
|---|
Bye Bye Birdie • All American • Golden Boy • It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman • Applause • I and Albert • Annie • A Broadway Musical • Charlie and Algernon • Bring Back Birdie • Nightingale • Dance a Little Closer • Mayor • Rags • Nick & Nora • Annie Warbucks |
Tony Award for Best Musical: Winners (1949–1969) |
|---|
1949: Kiss Me, Kate •
1950: South Pacific •
1951: Guys and Dolls •
1952: The King and I •
1953: Wonderful Town •
1954: Kismet •
1955: The Pajama Game •
1956: Damn Yankees •
1957: My Fair Lady •
1958: The Music Man •
1959: Redhead •
1960: The Sound of Music† •
1960: Fiorello!† •
1961: Bye Bye Birdie •
1962: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying •
1963: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum •
1964: Hello, Dolly! •
1965: Fiddler on the Roof •
1966: Man of La Mancha •
1967: Cabaret •
1968: Hallelujah, Baby! •
1969: 1776
Complete List · Winners (1949–1969) · Winners (1970–1989) · Winners (1990–2009) |
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Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since May 2007 | Articles with trivia sections from June 2007 | 1960 musicals | Broadway musicals | American musicals | Tony Award winners | 1963 films | Musical films | 1995 films | Television films | Film remakes
