We love you, Conrad, and your 49 costars
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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.
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