Musical ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ features new talent
April 6, 2018
The theater department is hard at work preparing for the spring musical “Bye Bye Birdie”. Originally performed as a Broadway show called “Let’s Go Steady” in 1960, “Bye Bye Birdie” eventually became a musical movie known for their Elvis-based character Conrad Birdie.
Bye Bye Birdie’s Elvis-like character is portrayed by senior and first time performer Isaac Krahn. His first-time acting experience involves many screaming, hysterical, teenage girls. His music producer, Albert, portrayed by junior Ben Valerius, and his secretary/girlfriend, Rosie, portrayed by junior Mya Lysne, attempt to have one last big publicity stunt for Birdie before he goes to war by having him kiss one of his adoring fans goodbye.
Kim MacAfee, played by senior Sophie Vogel, is supposed to be Birdie’s last kiss, but her relationship with Hugo Peabody, played by first time performer and junior Thomas Haggard, slowly falls apart. All relationships in this show are tested and pushed to see how far they will go.
[The show is] playful, enjoyable, cheerful, groovy and moderately annoying. Once everyone is being as bright and ugly [musically] as they need to be [Telephone Hour] is a wonderful song to be a part of.
— Ethan King
“[The show is] playful, enjoyable, cheerful, groovy and moderately annoying. Once everyone is being as bright and ugly [musically] as they need to be [ Telephone Hour ] is a wonderful song to be a part of,” junior and first time actor Ethan King said.
As the third song in the musical, “Telephone Hour” shows the close-knit community of Sweet Apple, Ohio. All of the teenage boys and girls of the town sing about Kim and Hugo becoming official.
“It’s very tricky to sing and dance at the same time and of course some people are better at it than others, but I think as a whole it’s coming along,” stage manager freshman Elsa Martin said.
The dances are done at high intensity and the musical pieces are sung at full ability. Bringing the two together is the hardest mash-up to accomplish for a musical actor. While dancing, actors have to make it seem as if they are not out of breath. In preparation for that Director Grif Sadow tells his actors to try to sing while they workout to get their voices and bodies use to the movement.
“During tech week I’m going to plan on doing my homework during my dinner break,” King said. “Or I’m going to plan on just crying and doing it at 3 a.m.,” King said.
During tech week, the cast can stay as late as 9 p.m. after school. Tech week is made for the technicians to run the show and learn their cues for lights and sound effects. This is also used for the pit orchestra, directed by Dennis Lindsay, to rehearse with the cast on stage and on cue. A majority of the actors consider tech week to be a stressful time, especially to fix the little things missed in rehearsals.
“I’m completely set on the time requirement, but just not the amount of energy and effort that pours out of us on tech week,” sophomore Fayuma Felema said. He will be performing in his first show in this spring musical.
At this point in the show, the cast is working on fixing minor errors and perfecting their pieces. “Bye Bye Birdie” will be performed on April 6-8 with two shows on the April 7. The tickets are $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and $5 for students.
“The shows are always a blast,” Martin said.
Ike Gunderson • Apr 24, 2018 at 7:54 am
This article was very well written and researched. It gave me good background information about the play as well as described the cast and what is different with this play compared to ones in the past.
Linnea Phillips • Apr 23, 2018 at 10:41 pm
This was a very fun article about the spring musical and the lead who has never been in a musical before. Well written, the lead gets down to business while still being interesting enough to grab attention. Great quotes and thoughtful fact paragraphs. Great job!
Grant Hietpas • Apr 23, 2018 at 10:12 pm
strong quotes and facts made it very clear to the reader that you knew what you were talking about when you wrote this. good job
Jesse Brown • Apr 23, 2018 at 9:21 pm
This story was very informative and created very well. It explained what the show is all about and gave me a lot of great quotes to read. It was really cool to read about how the play was put together and all of the effort and planning that was put into the play. Also, I thought the alternative copy story flowed very nice with the article and topic.
Hannah Sween • Apr 23, 2018 at 9:08 pm
This is a very in-depth and detailed article, well done! The quotes were strong and the repetition of “first time performer” was, in my opinion, very effective. Just one thing to take this article to the next level would be to reorganize some of the paragraphs so they have a more natural flow. Other than that, really well written!
Logan Huber • Apr 23, 2018 at 9:03 pm
The way this article was written clearly demonstrates how much time and research went into it. It did a great job bringing attention to the new talent being brought into the production. The quotes were also used very purposefully and added good details to the story that really helped capture the full idea of the article.
Jack Seipel • Apr 23, 2018 at 7:53 am
This was a well written article that showed you really did a good amount of research on the show and that you knew what you’re talking about. The only thing I would do is give more background on the characters
Josefina Scherek • Apr 23, 2018 at 7:48 am
Well written with a lot of background information to show the use of research that was put into the article! Really interesting quotes that all share a different purpose for the story and are all strong.
Lilly Sample • Apr 22, 2018 at 9:05 pm
I thought it was cool that first time actors were mentioned in the article, as theater has been reaching a wider audience over the last few shows. The story was published at a great time, and information was given on the show without revealing too much. Great job!
Chloe Squires • Apr 22, 2018 at 7:26 pm
Really great quotes; they made the story much more interesting and personal! The story shows an inside scoop of the commitment that comes with being a part of the play. It was also a good idea to include ticket prices and show information so interested readers can go.
Katherine Poor • Apr 22, 2018 at 1:35 pm
I really liked the explanations of the play including how you added the characters and the actors. I agree with Hunter that it was cool that you added the backstage things along with the onstage things. Good job!
Hunter Hippel • Apr 22, 2018 at 1:15 pm
I thought the level of detail in this story was amazing. Excellent reporting. You reported on facts regarding the script to the lightning crew. It encompassed the whole show, not just the things happening on stage. I also like how you encouraged the readers to go see the show with details regarding tickets at the end.
Malaina Fragnito • Apr 19, 2018 at 9:53 am
I like that this story highlights the new talent that is being discovered at our school. It is very well written and informative. I also enjoyed that the story focuses on the hard work that goes into dancing and signing at the same time because not a lot of people realize the time and hard work that goes into putting on a production.
Benjamin Valerius • Apr 15, 2018 at 10:33 am
I like how this story takes a specific theme and focus on the new talent featured in Bye Bye Birdie, but also explains about the show and the theatre department in general!
Gabrielle Danielson • Apr 11, 2018 at 12:11 pm
I really like how Madison wrote this article. It explains very clearly what the show is about but also lets us know that some of the stars are first time performers which I think is so cool. This piece came together very smoothly and I love it.
Wyatt Wasko • Apr 11, 2018 at 9:00 am
This story was very well done in my opinion. The background information that was given helps the readers know what exactly the play revolves around and also lets the reader know what to expect if ever seeing the play.
Also the story tells the reader when the play is being held so that the readers if interested can go see the play.