Stamos, Gershon, Irwin and Houdyshell Lead Roundabout's 'BYE BYE BIRDIE'

After a 48 year absence, Bye Bye Birdie will return to Broadway this fall presented by Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) in a production starring John Stamos (Albert Peterson), Gina Gershon (Rose Alvarez), Bill Irwin (Mr. Harry MacAfee) and Jayne Houdyshell (Mrs. Mae Peterson).  Bye Bye Birdie begins preview performances September 10, 2009, and has Opening Night set for October 15, 2009.

Directed & choreographed by Robert Longbottom, Bye Bye Birdie has a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse. Roundabout is proud to welcome back three artists who have previously worked at the theatrical institution: John Stamos, Gina Gershon and Bill Irwin.

John Stamos was most recently featured on the final three seasons of NBC's critically acclaimed drama "ER." After three appearances on Broadway - in Roundabout's Tony Award® winning Cabaret & Nine and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - Bye Bye Birdie will mark the first time Mr. Stamos originates a role in a new Broadway production.

Gina Gershon was most recently seen last season in the Tony Award® winning play Boeing Boeing. Ms. Gershon made her Broadway musical debut as "Sally Bowles" in Roundabout's production of Cabaret. 

Bill Irwin is currently starring on Broadway in Roundabout's production of Waiting for Godot which marks his return to Broadway after his 2005 Tony Award® for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Jayne Houdyshell returns to Broadway after appearing in the musical Wicked and the 2006 production of Well.

Bye Bye Birdie will be a limited engagement.

Additional creative members and citizens of Sweet Apple, Ohio will be announced shortly.

In Bye Bye Birdie, the exuberant rock n' roll musical comedy, it's 1960 and hip-swingin' teen idol superstar Conrad Birdie has been drafted into the army. Birdie's manager Albert (Stamos) and his secretary Rosie (Gershon) have cooked up a plan to send him off with a swell new song and one last kiss from a lucky teenage fan... on "The Ed Sullivan Show"! 

Bye Bye Birdie received the 1961 Tony Award® for Best Musical and features such beloved songs as "Put on A Happy Face," "Kids," "Spanish Rose," "The Telephone Hour" and "A Lot of Livin' To Do."

Only Roundabout subscribers have first access to tickets! To join Roundabout visit www.roundabouttheatre.org or call Roundabout Ticket Services (212) 719-9393.

Tickets go on sale to the general public June 2009. Check www.roundabouttheatre.org for details.

Bye Bye Birdie will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8:00PM with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00PM.

John Stamos (Albert Peterson). Actor/producer John Stamos continues to find success in many different areas of the entertainment world. He can currently be seen starring in NBC's Emmy Award-winning drama series "ER." Stamos plays Tony Gates, a maverick, hot-tempered, and flirtatious doctor and Gulf War veteran. His addition to the ensemble cast helped create a resurgence in ratings for one of the longest-running prime-time dramas now on TV. Since he joined the cast, the show reached its milestone 300th episode. The 15th and final season of "ER" can currently be seen on NBC. Stamos has also enjoyed tremendous success on Broadway, most recently starring in the Tony Award-winning "NINE." His Broadway debut came in 1995's "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and, in 2000, he starred as the Emcee in "Cabaret," which was very well received. Through his St. Amos banner, he recently produced and starred in "The Two Mr. Kissels," a Lifetime original movie based on the true story of two multimillionaire brothers who married the women of their dreams and wound up dead. He is also co-producing a feature film version of the TV Classic "The Jeffersons" for Sony. Additional producing credits include an Emmy nomination in 2000 for co-producing the ABC miniseries "Beach Boys: An American Family" and the highly rated CBS telefilm "Martin & Lewis." Not limiting himself to behind-the-camera work, he was recently seen in Neil Meron and Craig Zadan's Emmy and Golden Globe nominated adaptation of "Raisin in the Sun" for ABC. He was also recently seen starring in the A&E original film "Wedding Wars" as a gay wedding planner who leads a nation wide strike for gay marriage rights. His additional television film credits include "The Marriage Fool" opposite Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett. Stamos also starred in ABC's 2005 comedy "Jake in Progress." In 2001, he starred in the ABC romantic comedy "Thieves" about a pair of master thieves who become covert government agents. USA Today said of his performance, "the real revelation here is Stamos." On the big screen, he made his entry into the independent film world in the black comedy Dropping Out, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000 and in the contemporary romantic comedy Grownups. His recent film credits include the independent films I Am Stamos and Knots. Stamos' career has spanned over 25 years, beginning with the hit soap "General Hospital." He later segued to one of the most iconic family television programs playing "Uncle Jesse" on the popular ABC series "Full House." Stamos has also displayed his musical talents over the past 20 years while touring with "The Beach Boys." John currently lives in Los Angeles.

 

Gina Gershon (Rose Alvarez) has enjoyed a successful and diverse career in entertainment, earning acclaim as a film, television and stage actor, as a singer/songwriter/musician and most recently as an author. Gershon's prolific film career began when she made her feature debut as a dancer in the 1981 film Beatlemania. She landed her first speaking role with a memorable turn in John Hughes' box office hit Pretty in Pink. In addition to her breakout roles in Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls and the Wachowski Brothers' Bound, Gershon has appeared in such films as Red Heat opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cocktail opposite Tom Cruise, John Sayles's City of Hope, Robert Altman's The Player, the John Woo blockbuster Face/Off opposite John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, and Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated The Insider opposite Al Pacino. Gershon was most recently in Richard LaGravenese's P.S. I Love You opposite Hillary Swank and will next be seen in Taylor Hackford's Love Ranch opposite Helen Mirren. On television, Gershon's notable credits include the CBS mini-series, "Sinatra", the TNT original movie "Legalese"' opposite James Garner, Kathleen Turner and Mary Louise Parker and David E. Kelley's action detective drama "Snoops". Gershon has recurring roles in ABC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series "Ugly Betty", Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" for HBO, and FX's "Rescue Me". She recently guest starred on the Danny McBride HBO series "Eastbound & Down", and will next be seen starring in the Lifetime mini-series "Everything She Ever Wanted". Gershon recently made a huge splash on Broadway, receiving rave reviews as the Italian flight attendant Gabriella in the 2008 Tony Award-winning revival of Boeing Boeing. She will return to the stage this fall to star in the first-ever Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie. Additional stage credits include a 2001 starring role as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes's Broadway revival of Cabaret at Roundabout Theatre Company, the stage plays Camille opposite Kathleen Turner and Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire (both at the Long Wharf Theatre), and in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. As a founding member of the New York-based theater company Naked Angels, Gershon has appeared in numerous productions with the company. Gershon also appeared in the original production of William Mastrosimone's Nanawatai, which opened the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Having always enjoyed singing and songwriting, Gershon's musical career blossomed with the independent film Prey for Rock & Roll, receiving critical acclaim for her role as singer/guitarist Jacki. Her powerful turn as a rock performer in this project led Gershon to star in the IFC documentary Rocked, which followed her on the road touring with the indie rock band Girls Against Boys. Gershon's musical career continues to thrive with her latest CD "In Search of Cleo", a compilation of original songs with a unique sound that mixes country, rock and jazz. Additionally, Gershon has also played Jew's harp on recordings for Herbie Hancock, the Scissor Sisters, Rufus Wainwright and Christian McBride. In 2007, Gershon became a first time author, co-writing a novel for young adults with her brother Dann entitled Camp Creepy Time.

 

Bill Irwin (Mr. Harry MacAfee) is currently playing Vladimir in Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Waiting for Godot at Studio 54. He is an original member of Kraken and San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus. Original works include Fool Moon, Largely New York, The Harlequin Studies, Mr. Fox: A Rumination, The Happiness Lecture, and The Regard of Flight. Theatre: Broadway/West End revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2005 Tony Award, Helen Hayes Award), The Goat or Who is Sylvia, Accidental Death of An Anarchist, 5-6-7-8 Dance!, Waiting For Godot, Scapin, The Tempest, Garden of Earthly Delights, Texts for Nothing, A Flea In Her Ear, 2003/2004 Signature Theatre season devoted to his original work, The Seagull, A Man's A Man, 3 Cuckolds. Television: PBS Great Performances; "Bill Irwin Clown Prince," "Third Rock from the Sun," "Northern Exposure," "Sesame Street," "Elmo's World," "The Regard of Flight," Closing Ceremony 1996 Olympic Games, "The Cosby Show," "The Laramie Project," "Subway Stories," "Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo," "Law and Order," "Life on Mars," "CSI." Film: Rachel Getting Married, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Igby Goes Down, Lady in the Water, Dark Matter, Raving, Across The Universe, Popeye, Eight Men Out, Silent Tongue, Illuminata, My Blue Heaven, A New Life, Scenes from a Mall, Stepping Out.Awards: National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship, Guggenheim and Fulbright and MacArthur Fellowships.

 

Jayne Houdyshell (Mrs. Mae Peterson). Broadway: Wicked; Well (2006 Tony Nomination, Theatre World Award Winner 2006). Off-Broadway: The New Century at Lincoln Center Theater (Outer Critics Circle Nominations, Drama League Nomination), The Receptionist at Manhattan Theatre Club (2008 Lucille Lortel Nomination, Drama League Nomination), The Pain and the Itch (2007 Drama League Nomination); Well, Public Theatre (2004 Obie Award and Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel Award Nominations); Much Ado About Nothing, NYSF; Fighting Words, Playwrights Horizons; True Love, Zipper Theater; Attempts on Her Life, Soho Rep. Regional Theater: The Pain and The Itch, Steppenwolf Theatre (2005 Jefferson Award); The Clean House, Wilma Theatre (2005 Barrymore Award), Yale Repertory Theater, McCarter Theatre, Actors Theater of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Missouri Repertory Theater, Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre, Asolo Theater, Studio Arena Theater, Meadow Brook Theater and many others. Film: Everbody's Fine, Garden State, Changing Lanes, Trust The Man, and Things That Hang From Trees. Television: "Unorthodox", "Conviction", "Law & Order", "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Third Watch". Proud Member of Actors Equity Association.

MICHAEL STEWART (Book) scored on Broadway the first time out when he won a Tony for his Bye Bye Birdie libretto. He was the librettist for Carnival (Drama Critics Circle Award) and Hello, Dolly!, which won him both Tony and Drama Critics prizes. He also wrote the books for 42nd Street (with Mark Bramble, Tony nomination), George M!, Mack and Mabel and The Grand Tour; both book and lyrics for I Love My Wife; and lyrics for Barnum. Mr. Stewart died in 1987.

Lee Adams (Lyrics) began his professional career as a journalist, working as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer and editor, and radio writer and interviewer. But his life took a sudden turn when his "hobby" of lyric writing let to Bye Bye Birdie in 1960. This unheralded little Broadway musical was a smash hit and went on to become a classic. Now, forty-six years later, Birdie remains the most performed musical for schools and amateur theaters. Adams received the first of his two Tony awards for Birdie, followed on Broadway by All American (1962); Golden Boy with Sammy Davis (1964); ‘...It's Superman (1966); Applause with Lauren Bacall (1970), for which he won his second Tony. In 1972, with his composer-collaborator Charles Strouse, Adams wrote a much -acclaimed musical, I And Albert in London. He wrote the lyrics for TV's long-running "All in the Family" theme, "Those Were The Days," which has been heard more often than any other television theme. And with Strouse he wrote the score for the film The Night They Raided Minsky's, a cult favorite. Among his hundreds of songs, a number have become standards, including "Put On A Happy Face," "Kids," "Once Upon A Time," "Applause," "Night Song," "I Want To Be With You," and "A Lot Of Livin' To Do." Adams' other awards include an Emmy for "Let's Settle Down," from the TV version of Birdie, and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award for outstanding contributions to the American Musical Theater, and his induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has taught seminars on American musical theater at Yale, Columbia, and N.Y.U., and is proud to be a Life Member of the Dramatists Guild Council. Adams is currently working on a musicalization of the 1950's classic movie, Marty, with composer Strouse and bookwriter Rupert Holmes.

Charles Strouse (Music) music has been an integral part of American culture for over forty years. His first Broadway musical was the smash hit Bye Bye Birdie (written with long time collaborator Lee Adams). It won him a Tony Award for best score - his first of three - and paved the way for his next show All American (book by Mel Brooks) which produced the well-known standard "Once Upon a Time" (recorded by countless vocalists, including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Bobby Darin). In 1964, Golden Boy (starring Sammy Davis, Jr.) earned four Tony Award nominations, and in 1966, Mr. Strouse went on to write the Broadway favorite It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's Superman! (based on the popular comic strip). In 1970, Applause (starring Lauren Bacall) won Mr. Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Mr. Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage. It was the hugely popular Annie- which went on to become a world wide phenomenon, and garnered Mr. Strouse yet another Tony (in addition to two Grammys). Some of Mr. Strouse's other musicals include Dance a Little Closer (lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner), Charlie & Algernon (Tony nomination), Rags(Tony nomination) and Nick & Nora (Tony nomination). Mr. Strouse's film scores include the classics Bonnie & Clyde, There was a Crooked Man (with Henry Fonda and Kirk Douglas), The Night They Raided Minsky's and the popular animated movie All Dogs Go to Heaven. He also wrote the theme song "Those Were the Days" for the groundbreaking television show "All in the Family". Mr. Strouse's songs have been heard on the radio throughout his career and have run the gamut from girl-band pop to hip hop. In 1958, his song "Born Too Late" was number one on the Billboard charts, and in 1999 the quadruple platinum "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" by artist Jay-Z was the winner of a Grammy for Best Rap Album of the year & the Billboard R&B Album of the Year. Mr. Strouse's writing also extends into orchestral works, chamber music, piano concertos and opera. His "Concerto America" premiered at The Boston Pops in 2004, and his opera "Nightingale" (starring Sarah Brightman) had a long and successful run in London's West End. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Mr. Strouse studied under Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger. In 1977, he founded the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop in NY. He is the recipient of the "Richard Rodgers" as well as the "Oscar Hammerstein" Awards. He is also a member of the Theater Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His new musical, Minsky's, premiered in January 2009 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. His book, Put an a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir was released in June 2008 and is available in bookstores.

Robert Longbottom (Director/Choreographer) made his Broadway debut as Director/Choreographer on the original musical Side Show, which earned four Tony Award nominations including one for Best Musical. Other Broadway credits include the Mark Taper Forum production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song with a new book by playwright David Henry Hwang. This production earned Mr. Longbottom a Tony Award nomination for his Choreography as well as an Astaire, and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Other New York credits include the Broadway musical The Scarlet Pimpernel; The Off-Broadway hit Pageant that he conceived as well as directed and choreographed, the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and Anything Goes in Concert at Lincoln Center starring Patti LuPone. For Disney Theatrical he created the compilation musical On the Record. At the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, he directed a new production of the wartime classic, Mister Roberts and most recently returned to direct and choreograph a critically acclaimed production of Carnival. He recently directed a staged reading of Stage Door for the Roundabout Theatre as well as a new musical Triangle at the Eugene O'Neil Center. Upcoming Broadway projects include a ‘new' Irving Berlin musical with playwright Jeffrey Hatcher entitled Let Yourself Go and a new production of Dreamgirls for producer John Breglio.

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. The off Broadway Theatre Center, 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.

Lead support provided by Roundabout's Musical Theatre Production Fund partners: Perry and Marty Granoff, The Kaplen Foundation, Peter and Leni May, John and Gilda McGarry, Tom and Diane Tuft.

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

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2008-2009 season includes Lisa Loomer's Distracted featuring Cynthia Nixon, directed by Mark Brokaw; 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, John Glover, 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.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2009-2010 season includes Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie, starring Sienna Miller, directed by Mark Brokaw; Michael Stewart, Lee Adams and Charles Strouse's Bye Bye Birdie, directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom; Noël Coward's Present Laughter starring Victor Garber, directed by Nicholas Martin.

For more information visit, www.byebyebirdieonbroadway.com