Original Bdwy 'Birdie' Gautier Talks Revival Casting to Newsday

Directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom, Bye Bye Birdie will begin performances in the fall of 2009. After 48 years, Bye Bye Birdie returns to Broadway in a new production at Roundabout Theatre Company. The good news of 'Birdie's' return has brought up the usual discussions of casting Conrad Birdie himself, Newsday reached out to the original Broadway 'Birdie', Dick Gautier, who was a 1961 Tony nominee for his performance to see what his thoughts on the subject were.

"I'm not really in touch with the new crop of young actor/performers," came Gautier's quick reply via e-mail to Newsday. The show "was a wonderful jumping-off place for my career, and I hope [the revival] works," he said. "I always like to see actors working ... especially in this economy."

To read the entire article, including some creative casting opinions, click here.

The musical comedy takes place in 1960 and centers around an Elvis Presley-type rock 'n' roll superstar named Conrad Birdie. Conrad's Agent Albert and his long suffering secretary/love interest Rosie plan a publicity stunt in which a lucky teenager gets to bestow a farewell kiss upon their idol. The Tony Award-winning Best Musical features such beloved songs as "Put on A Happy Face," "Kids" and "A Lot of Livin' To Do."

The Roundabout Theatre Company is one of the country's leading not-for-profit theatres. The company contributes invaluably to New York's cultural life by staging the highest quality revivals of classic plays and musicals as well as new plays by established writers. Roundabout consistently partners great artists with great works to bring a fresh and exciting interpretation that makes each production relevant and important to today's audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts; and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. American Express is the 2008-2009 season sponsor of the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2008-2009 season includes Rodgers & Hart's Pal Joey, starring Stockard Channing, Matthew Risch & Martha Plimpton, directed by Joe Mantello; Lisa Loomer's Distracted featuring Cynthia Nixon, directed by Mark Brokaw; Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, starring Mary-Louise Parker, Michael Cerveris, Paul Sparks and Peter Stormare, directed by Ian Rickson; Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist, starring Matthew Broderick, directed by David Grindley; Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, starring (in order of speaking) Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman, David Strathairn, directed by Anthony Page.

Roundabout's sold out production of The 39 Steps made its second Broadway transfer to the Helen Hayes Theatre on January 21, 2009.

Photo Credit: Sarah DeBoer/Retna Ltd.