Bye Bye Birdie opening just weeks away

Photos courtesy director Michael Givler and by staff reporter Kensey Buck .

Posted Oct. 14, 2022

Features Editor

Bye Bye Birdie is the much-anticipated first musical of the 2022-23 school year, performed by theater students at the Howard Horner Performing Arts Center, open to audiences in November.

Inspired by the iconic singer Elvis Presley, who was drafted in the Army in 1957, Michael Stewart's 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie tells the story of the adored rock-and-roll idol Conrad Birdie whose career is interrupted because he had been drafted. His songwriter, Albert Peterson, composed a farewell song titled One Last Kiss for Birdie to perform, where he will give one last kiss to a teenage fan, Kim MacAfee, live on the Ed Sullivan Show in Sweet Apple, Ohio. Unfortunately, things don't go as smoothly as planned and the town doesn't want the show to go on.

The composer behind the Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack, as well as other famous Broadway musicals Annie and Applause, is American composer and lyricist Charles Strouse. Lyrics were written by Lee Adams. David Douglas music students will be performing the songs in a pit orchestra, both strings and band, conducted by musical director Jennifer Brooks.

Auditions were held on Sept. 12. The first Thespian meeting for Bye Bye Birdie was Sept. 27. The technical director is Chanell Magee; the dance director is Lynette Velasquez; and Martin Ellis will be the accompanist. Thirty-six actors in total are performing in the musical, with approximately 25 technicians and 25 orchestra pit members. Construction is in the works and even ahead of schedule. Their diligent efforts are applauded by the actors who have been able to rehearse with what has been produced so far.

In the previous year, actors' talents were restricted due to COVID-19 and the mask mandate that was only lifted in Oregon on March 11, just reaching its seven month milestone. The theater department was deeply impacted by COVID-19 and their productions couldn't reach their full potential with social distancing and masks. For the first time in three years, the David Douglas Performing Arts Department is able to host a live musical without any mask restrictions and the entire 500-seat auditorium can be filled.

"I started theater my sophomore year online during COVID, so I had never really been in a live, maskless musical, the kind I dreamed to one day be in," said junior cast member Erick Leiva. "I'm so lucky to be able to finally have this opportunity to be in a musical where we can perform the way we used to, with our old and new traditions."

The 1963 film version of Bye Bye Birdie, starring Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, and Ann-Margret, was a huge success for Columbia Pictures. Video courtesy Columbia Pictures.