Bye Bye Birdie: Thanks for the Memories

"Bye Bye Birdie"

Book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse; lyrics by Lee Adams, directed and choreographed by Michael Lichtefeld; scenic design by Howard C. Jones; costume design by Kimberly Wick and provided by Costume World Theatrical; lighting design by Kirk Bookman; sound design by John A. Stone; hair and wig design by Gerard Kelly; musical direction by Anne Shuttlesworth

Cast in order of appearance:
Albert Peterson, James Patterson; Rose Alvarez, Bianca Marroquin; Hugo Peabody, Ari Butler; Harvey Johnson, AJ Hughes; Ursula Merkle, Mara Newbery; Mrs. MacAfee, Madeleine Doherty; Kim MacAfee, Alessa Neeck; Sad Girl, Mara Newbery; Mae Peterson, Mary-Pat Green; Conrad Birdie, Eric Ulloa; Mr. MacAfee, Robert Saoud; Mayor, Scott P. Sambuco; Mayor's Wife, Ellen Peterson; Mrs. Merkle, Dawn Tucker; Randolph MacAfee, Adam Piispanen; Gloria Rasputin, Elizabeth Clinard; Charles F. Maude, Edward M. Barker; Bar Quartet, AJ Hughes, Andy Jones, Paul H. Miller, Peter Mills; Shriners, Edward M. Barker, Jeremy Benton, Charles Logan, Scott P. Sambuco

Performances: Now through August 3, North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Road, Beverly, Mass.
Box Office: 978-232-7200 or www.nsmt.org

Ah, the good old days. Were they ever really as innocent as we'd like to believe? If the current North Shore Music Theatre production of the Tony Award-winning musical Bye Bye Birdie is any gauge, then the 1950s was definitely a candy coated confection.

Sporting crew cuts, pig tails, chinos, peddle pushers, rotary telephones and $2.99 sneakers (minus the logos), a clutch of fresh faced and buoyant teenagers transport us back to 1959, the year when Alan Shepard became the first American in space, Nikita Khrushchev was not allowed to visit Disneyland, Fidel Castro succeeded in taking over Cuba, and Vietnam started to creep into the public consciousness. The biggest worry on the minds of the folks from Sweet Apple, Ohio, however, is how they are going to deal with the arrival of rock 'n' roll sensation Conrad Birdie.

It's the eve of the hip swiveling heartthrob's (read Elvis Presley) recruitment into the United States Army. Girls swoon, boys resent, parents fret, and the entire country tunes in as the side-burned superstar prepares to give Midwestern fan club member Kim MacAfee "One Last Kiss" live on the Ed Sullivan Show. The stunt is the brainchild of plucky Rose Alvarez, secretary and eight-year girlfriend of Albert Peterson, Birdie's hapless momma's boy agent and song writer. It seems Peterson would rather be an "English Teacher" than a record mogul, but deep debt – and even deeper Oedipal issues – won't let him dissolve his business partnership with his martyred mom. So, Rose connives that if Peterson's one last song skyrockets to the top of the charts after Birdie sings it in front of millions of viewers on national TV, he'll have enough money to pay off his loans, kiss his mother goodbye, return to his chosen profession, and finally make an honest woman out of Rose. Trouble is Kim's boyfriend Hugo Peabody has other ideas. So does Albert's steamroller of a mother Mae.

The twisted plot machinations are merely thin excuses for some good natured American musical satire. The Ozzie and Harriet family values are put to the test when frustrated teens flirt with adult temptations in "A Lot of Livin' to Do" and anguished parents wonder what's the matter with "Kids" today. The media's absurd fascination with celebrity is lampooned in "A Healthy Normal American Boy," and WASP attitudes about immigration and ethnic stereotypes are skewered as Mae laments "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore" and Rose replies with a comically barbed, Puerto Rican inflected 11 o'clock number, "Spanish Rose."

All of the elements – a talented cast, exciting choreography, rich Beat Generation arrangements, and colorful set and costume designs – seem to be in place to make this Birdie soar. It's a bit disappointing, then, that the first act feels more rushed than rendered. The pace is non-stop traffic control which prevents leading characters from establishing the delicate balance between spoof and heart. There's no time for a wink or a sigh. It's all over-the-top surface shine, without much genuine emotion beneath the forced nostalgia.

The tempo and spirit happily shift, however, as soon as the MacAfees take center stage. Led by local stage stalwart Robert Saoud as the harried father whose well managed home life is suddenly falling apart at the seams, their "Hymn for a Sunday Evening" in which they worship at the altar of Ed Sullivan builds from a family's private celebration to a full-out revival meeting complete with hand-clapping chorus and robed choir. Here director Michael Litchtefeld's tongue-in-cheek concept finally seems to take hold. Innocence – and a gentle mockery of its own questionable existence – mingle in delightful pastiche.

In Act II the adults take over, with the show focusing on the Peterson-Alvarez romance. This gives Broadway Chicagoalum Bianca Marroquin as Rose ample chance to shine. She teams with the sweetly sympathetic Alessa Neeck as Kim to deliver a confidence boosting "What Did I Ever See in Him" at the top of the act and later takes that brio a little too far in the men's club-crashing table dance number, "Shriner's Ballet." Her ultimate liberation comes in the show-stopping "Spanish Rose" which lets her unleash all of her triple threat talents. Here she's smart, funny, feisty, and a firecracker of a dancer. How Albert could hesitate one second in choosing this adorable creature over his battle axe of a mother is unfathomable.

Until, of course, you meet Mae! A master of persuasion through guilt and Herculean parental sacrifice, Mary-Pat Green as the quintessential domineering mother rules the roost with fearless death pecks. Her laser-like stings could no doubt emasculate even the most alpha of male peacocks. Poor jelly kneed Albert never had a chance.

As said beleaguered boyfriend and son, James Patterson unfortunately fails to stir either passion or empathy. He's not enough of an enamored suitor to earn Rose's undying love and loyalty, nor is he enough of a well-meaning mensch to earn cheers when he finally grows a spine. He sings and dances well enough, but he always seems to be pushing his shtick instead of letting his good guy character seep through. In what should be one of the most uplifting numbers of the show, "Put on a Happy Face," his exaggerated clowning prevents him from really engaging with the Sad Girl Mara Newbery. Instead of drawing a despairing teen out with a knowing humor, he begs for smiles like a babysitter trying to pacify a cranky two-year-old. His show-closing "Rosie" with the radiant Marroquin is much better because of its soft shoe sensibility, but here, too, he lacks the unbridled joy that should sweep his true love off her feet and into his unfettered heart forever.

In this age where internet chat rooms, online fan groups, celebrity message boards, and cell phone cameras are turning an adoring public into intruding paparazzi, Bye Bye Birdie seems relentlessly quaint. Still, there's something heartwarming and sweet about seeing a dozen boys and girls spreading gossip over a land line instead of feverishly texting each other while downing a Red Bull and surfing TV.

Ah, the good old days - if only in our dreams.

PHOTOS: The Youth Ensemble during "Telephone Hour;" Alessa Neeck as Kim MacAfee and Eric Ulloa as Conrad Birdie; Robert Saoud as Mr. MacAfee, Madeleine Doherty as Mrs. MacAfee, and Alessa Neeck; Bianca Marroquin as Rose; Mary-Pat Green as Mae Peterson and James Patterson as Albert

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