Event

Bye Bye Birdie

Bye Bye Birdie tells the story of a rock and roll singer who is about to be inducted into the army. The singer, Conrad Birdie, an Elvis Presley type and Albert Peterson, his agent; it is his faithful secretary Rose Alvarez, that keeps him and Birdie moving forward in the world. Rosie concocts one final national publicity plan before Conrad's induction. He will bid a typical American Teen-age girl goodbye with an all-American kiss. Kim MacAfee in Sweet Apple, Ohio wins the honor. All of the phones in her home town are busy during The Telephone Hour as she has just been pinned to Hugo, a local boy. She is a fetching girl of fifteen and sings with spring-like ardor How Lovely To Be a Woman, as she pulls on the plaid woolen socks and the baggy mustard colored sweater that characterize loveliness on young ladies today. The arrival of Birdie in Sweet Apple causes wholesale swooning, by both the old and young. Birdie says that his success is due to the fact that he is Honestly Sincere when he sings, and the quiet little town goes into a spin. The MacAfee household is completely upset by the visiting dignitary. It is decided that Birdie will give his One Last Kiss on the Ed Sullivan show. Kim's father, who laments the whole uproar, tries to break into the act and behaves like a ham on the TV show. Birdie becomes disgusted with his life and sprints out of the town with the teenagers. He feels tense with Albert and is tired of being watched over. The parents of Sweet Apple cannot understand the new generation and express this in Kids. Rosie, still waiting for that band of gold from Albert after eight years, decides to become the Latin American spitfire that she is painted as by Albert's lead footed catastrophe ridden mother. She is determined to become Spanish Rose. Kim is reunited with Hugo and Rose with Albert in the lovely number Rosie. Others hit numbers include A Lot of Livin' to Do and Put On a Happy Face.