Bye Bye Birdie Critique

Steven Randolph1

Bye Bye Birdie2

Bye Bye Birdie is not only the musical we will be performing this year at Mulvane High School. It is also a famous musical from Broadway, that was also made into a movie in the 60’s with Dick Van Dyke.3

Bye Bye Birdie had its opening night on April 14, 1960 at the Martin Beck Theatre. It was at theatre until October 24, 1960, when it was moved to 54th Street Theatre. It remained there until January 16, 1961, when it moved to the Sherbert Theatre. On October 7, 1961, it showed its last show. There was a total of 607 performances on Broadway.4

The show was produced by Edward Padula. It was directed by Gower Champion, and was choreographed by Gower Champion also. He (I think that’s a he name) has an associate choreographer. Gene Bayliss.5

Robert Randolph did the scenic design, while Miles White did the costume design. 6

Stage Manager was Michael Toma and Edward Nayor, while the Assistant Stage Manager was Elsa Walden.7

For the actual show, Rose was played by Chita Rivera, and Albert Peterson by Dick van Dyke. Conrad Birdie was played by Dick Gauiter. Mr. and Mrs. Macaffee were played by Paul Lynde and Marijane Maracle. Kim Macaffee was played by Susan Watson and her brother, Randolph, was played by Johnny Borden. Her steady, Hugo, was played by Michael J. Pollard. And finally, the crazy mother, Mae Peterson, was played by Kay Medford.8

The music of the show was written by Charles Strouse. The book was written by Michael Stewart, and the lyrics by Lee Adams.9

Of course, no show would be complete without a list of Tony’s and their nominations.10

It won: 1961 Tony Award for Best Musical. 1961 Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Dick Van Dyke. 1961 Best Choreography. 1961 Best Direction of a Musical. There was a total of 3 Tony’s won by Bye Bye Birdie.11

There were a bit more nominees than wins for Bye Bye Birdie. It was up for: 1961 Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Dick Gautier. 1961 Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Chita Rivera. 1961 Best Scenic Design. 1961 Best Conductor and Musical Director. It was up for a grand total of 4 Tony’s that it did not win.12

The show had a couple of standby’s for the main characters. For Rose, was Carmen Alveraz. For Albert Peterson, Charles Nelson Reilly.13

There was also a number of understudies. Lee Howard did both Mr. Henkel and Mr. Macaffee. Ed Kresley did Conrad Birdie. For Mrs. Maccaffee, there was Jeannine Masterson. Pat McEnnis did Mae Peterson. For both Hugo and Randolph, Dean Stolber stood in. And finally, Karin Wolfe stood in for Kim Macaffee.14

I don’t need to give a real plot, but it did take place during the 50’s, and was shown in the early 60’s. It takes place in a New York musical studio, and Sweet Apple, a medium-sized town in Ohio. It is, of course, a musical comedy.15

I would like to add in a quick opinion that while though it is an interesting musical, I highly doubt it would have received as much fame if Dick Van Dyke hadn’t been featured in it.16