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Bye Bye Birdie by Moonlight Stage Productions 
Kids! I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!!! Especially the ones from Sweet Apple, Ohio who are going absolutely gaga over the visit of rock star Conrad Birdie. This quaint, little 1950s town is about to be the site of thousands of screaming girls, jealous boyfriends, and their bewildered parents. Especially in the MacAfee home which happens to be the home of Kim MacAfee, President of the Conrad Birdie Fan Club whose members swear complete allegiance to Conrad Birdie (much to the dismay of their boyfriends).
As a massive publicity campaign to boost sales before Birdie enlists in the army, publicity manager Albert Peterson dreams up this clever scheme to have the rock star give a farewell kiss to a president of one of Birdie's fan clubs -- and on The Ed Sullivan Show. If Albert can pull this off, he can put his company in the black, and he and his fiancé and business partner of the past eight years, Rose Alvarez, can get married. If he can't pull it off, he could lose both his shirt and Rose. Opening up the Moonlight Amphitheatre's new season, this production of Bye Bye Birdie single-handedly turned me into a screaming Bye Bye Birdie fan thanks to an incredible cast, both singing- and comedy-wise, of youth actors (including, incidentally, four San Diego Playbill "Billie" Award winners from previous shows), all under the impressive direction of Moonlight Youth Productions alumnus Renee Kollar. Josh Breckenridge, who last year opened the Moonlight season with the title role in Li'l Abner, this year regales the audience with his velvet vocal talents and natural sense of comedy as Albert Peterson who seems to be able to put a happy face on everyone -- except Rose (Lauren Stevens). Josh and his Sad Girls, with his vocals and all of their amusing facial expressions, deliver one of the best scenes as he cheers the Sad Girls up in Put on a Happy Face (a scene which they generously recreated for the recent Youth "Billie" Awards ceremony, much to the delight of that audience as well). Both Josh and Lauren combine for a couple of great scenes as the long-time lovers/business partners including A Healthy, Normal, American Boy in which they try to convince the fans that Conrad Birdie is the perfect citizen. Lauren, meanwhile, has her hottest scenes near the end when she tries to seduce the Mayor (Billie winner Benjamin Hart) as well as the entire city council -- and she does a little too good a job of it, forcing her to run from the excited council for the sake of her virtue! And other terrific performances abound. Billie winner Lauren Campbell as Kim MacAfee who, at the ripe old age of fifteen, decides that it is time to resign as the Birdie Fan Club president, which she has become too mature for, in order to settle down with her steady Hugo Peabody (Keith Gemmel) -- until she finds out that she gets to kiss Birdie [insert loud, sustained screaming]! Joseph Glaser as cocky celebrity Birdie has great charisma and style for the role. Eric Hellmers and Billie winner Renetta Lehman, as Mr. And Mrs. MacAfee, combine for a hilarious rendition of Kids in which they lament the difficulties of parenthood and seem to have forgotten their own childhoods. Renetta's "Mrs. Poole" voice and motherly mannerisms, and Eric's sensational work as Kim's father who can't bear to share his house with the disrespectful Birdie one second longer -- until he learns that he gets to be on The Ed Sullivan Show -- are the perfect 50's parents.  Additional standouts include Kari Miller as the hysterical future-mother-in-law-from-hell, who will never be a mother-in-law if she can help it, doing her best to chase away any competition for her son Albert. Kari's accent, walk, and outrageously aggravating personality were a delight (as long as you're not interested in marrying her son!). And Billie winner Stephen LaFata played the nerdy Harvey Johnson with facial expressions and body language of uncommon goofiness that kept me cracking up throughout.
Finally, the entire cast earned their eventual standing ovation in several scenes, including the big numbers with Conrad Birdie and, perhaps my favorite, the Hymn for a Sunday Evening in which the idea of going on The Ed Sullivan Show becomes a religious experience for the MacAfee family who find themselves swept up in all the fame and excitement just as I was swept up in this terrific production -- a good omen for Moonlight's summer season which includes Hello Dolly, Dames at Sea, the regional debut of Ragtime, and Footloose. Rob Hopper San Diego Playbill ~ Cast ~
Helen: Jessica Johnson Nancy: Phoebe Silva Alice: Kelly Jo Kindred Margie: Alexandra Weaverling Harvey Johnson: Stephen LaFata Penelope Ann: Kari Campbell Suzie: Jennifer Griffiths Albert Peterson: Josh Breckenridge Rose Alvarez: Lauren Stevens Ursula Merkle: Morgan Matayoshi Kim MacAfee: Lauren Campbell Mrs. Doris MacAfee: Renetta Lehman Mr. Harry MacAfee: Eric Hellmers Mrs. Mae Peterson: Kari Miller Conrad Birdie: Joseph Glaser Hugo Peabody: Keith Gemmel Mayor: Benjamin Hart Mayor's Wife: Lauren Zaslow Mr. Johnson: Kyle Hawk Mrs. Merkle: Shannon Sullivan Randolph MacAfee: Ernie Gorham Gloria Rasputin: Holly Pflum Stage Manager: Hunter Kaczorowski Maude: Adam Brener Sad Girls: Carina Curé Whitney Fortmueller Katie Palmer Lizzy Palmer Holly Pflum Candace Sames Chorus: Brittan Chow Conor Ford Kevin Gorham Katherine Gorham Lance Hartung Olivia Johnson Valerie Lieberman Murphy Martin Devin McKenna CarlyAnn Oquendo Jillian Porter Jacob Silva Erica Thomas Jake Tidwell Kimberly Underwood Devin Welsh Director: Renee M. Kollar Assistant Director/Choreographer: Colleen Kollar Musical Director: John Nettles Orchestra Conductor: Mark Wadleigh Costumer: Roslyn Lehman Assistant Costumer: Renetta Lehman Sound Designer: Peter Hashagen Lighting Designer: Mitchell Simkovsky Stage Manager: Cherrie Underwood Assistant Stage Manager/Properties: Sue Givens |