Theater Reviews

Mar 7, 2009 - The Elvis inspired musical "Bye Bye Birdie" opens at Reno's Pioneer Center

By jack neal

Long live the Elvis legend and rock 'n roll!

With shrieking rock-star-worshipping teenage girls belting “We love you Conrad, oh yes we do,” the 1960s Broadway musical that paid homage to America’s pop music phenomenon of the 1950s opened Friday night (3/6/09) at Reno’s Pioneer Center.

The production has a terrific cast, some memorable song and dance numbers and is charmingly entertaining. Beyond that, the unattractive, cheap-looking Michael Ward sets, and the eight-piece orchestra with the unattractive arrangements, are a real drag on the production’s look and sound. The company’s talented, hard-working cast of troupers deserve better.

With a book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, “Bye Bye Birdie” is a delightful parody of early rock ‘n roll in which teenage girls could hardly keep their hands off rock idols, most notably Elvis Presley, after whom “Bye Bye Birdie” is fashioned. At its best, “Bye Bye Birdie” is an infectious show of wit, dance and music drenched in a wide-eyed innocence that’s irresistible.

Rock star Conrad Birdie is a slick-haired hunk who can hardly keep his hands off himself let alone the sweet young things of the middle-American town, Sweet Apple, where most of the musical’s action takes place. Conrad is about to be drafted, and his manager, Albert Peterson, and Albert’s secretary and long-term fiancé, Rosie Alvarez, are out to make the best of Conrad’s two-year hiatus from show business. So it’s on to Sweet Apple for a patriotic, all-American sendoff and a gig on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Conrad settles in at the home of the MacAfees, where the dad (Harry) is skeptical of the Conrad craze, the mother (Doris) goes along with the Conrad craze, the daughter (Kim) “is” the Conrad craze, and Kim's kid brother (Randolph) is beyond the Conrad craze. That is until they discover they’re going to be on the Ed Sullivan Show. The family’s fervent tribute to Ed Sullivan, “Hymn for a Sunday Evening” - sung with religious devotion - is one of “Bye Bye Birdie’s” most winning moments. There are many other winning moments. “Kids! (I don’t know what’s wrong with kids today),” “Put On A Happy Face,” Conrad’s narcissistic “Honestly Sincere” are some of the others.

Paula Hammons Sloan is the show’s director-choreographer and for the most part she succeeds. That she’s stuck with dreary sets that challenge, is a challenge she comes close to pulling off. The great “Telephone Hour” number is managed with a maximum of teenage verve that’s just as it should be. The dances between Albert (an agile Jonathan Van Dyke) and the sad faced girl (a nimble Alden LaPaglia), and Albert and Rosie (a vivacious Regina Gatti) are close to memorable.

Conrad’s stressed out manager, Albert, is played by Van Dyke with a charm most often associated with the original Broadway-and-screen Albert, Dick Van Dyke. The current Mr. Van Dyke does not suffer by comparison. As Rosie, Gatti provides the gifts of acting and singing polish, and gracious good humor that makes her the show’s anchor of credibility.

Conrad is played with ample narcissistic glee by Eli Budwill. Budwill is a magnetic embodiment of a king of rock in voice, figure and demeanor. The teenage Kim MacAfee, around whom the hype of Conrad in Sweet Apple swirls, is played with apple-cheeked innocence by Lara Hayhurst. Her beau, Hugo Peabody, is realized with appropriate teenage hubris by the very boyish Jim Nassef.

Harry MacAfee, a role originated by the incomparable Paul Lynde, is nicely secured this time around via the comedic talents of Rockford Sansom. Mrs. MacAfee is played with maternal devotion by Mallorie Fletcher. Randolph, the young son and brother of the MacAfee family, is played with a kid’s fervent persona by Andy Lott. Albert’s mother, the fastidiously domineering Mae Peterson, is played with son-squelching precision by Jean Liuzzi.

The tribal rhythms of rock ‘n roll once raised concerns by God-fearing citizens that the American society was about to disintegrate like the last days of Rome. “Bye Bye Birdie” proves that rock ‘n roll and the eternal envy of young flesh have not yet destroyed America. This Windwood Productions presentation of “Bye Bye Birdie” has a marvelous cast. Pity the company has not paid enough attention to detail to make this current “Bye Bye Birdie” the unabashed hit it could be.

“Bye Bye Birdie,” part of the Broadway Comes to Reno Series, can be seen at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, Friday, March 6 at 8 p.m. (the performance reviewed), Saturday, March 7 at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 8, at 2 and 7 p.m. For information call 775-686-6600.