Review: BYE, BYE, BIRDIE at Kennedy Center

The latest entry into Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage series is one that you don’t see produced professionally very often which is reason enough to go see it. The 1960 Charles Strouse/Lee Adams/Michael Stewart musical Bye, Bye, Birdie was at one point the most produced musical by high schools and community theatres but strangely it has had very few large-scale revivals. Roundabout Theatre Company’s production in 2009 marked the last time the show was seen on Broadway in a major production.

It's easy to see why Bye, Bye, Birdie was so popular for so long. It takes us back to a time of a more innocent America despite there being a draft on.

Bye, Bye, Birdie basically presents a scenario as to what would happen if a major recording artist got drafted into the army and the frenzy it causes among his fans. It also presents themes of the constant fight between the younger and older generations.

Albert Peterson (Christian Borle) is singer Conrad Birdie’s (Ephraim Sykes) manager. When he is not doing that, he runs Almaelou music, a company handed down to him from his over bearing mother named Mae (Caroline Aaron). When Conrad has to report to basic training in two weeks, Albert and his secretary Rose Alvarez (Krysta Rodriguez) hatch an ingenious publicity stunt. It is to have Conrad kiss a small-town girl on The Ed Sullivan Show right before he goes off to serve his military time. The recipient of the kiss is one Kim Macafee (Ashlyn Maddox) from Sweetapple Ohio. She is the president of the local chapter of the Conrad Birdie fan club. Her semi beau Hugo Peabody (Miguel Gil) is jealous of Kim getting kissed on national television and makes some publicity for himself in front of the nation.

Then there is the semi-plot of whether or not Albert and Rose get together permanently and if weather or not he tells his over dramatic mother to can it.

Hands down Krysta Rodriguez’s Rosie is the best performance in this production. She has all the fieriness required and her “Spanish Rose” is a true showstopper.

As good as Christian Borle’s is as Albert from a singing and dancing perspective, I found his acting to be a little under what it needed to be. This is particularly evident as the pressure mounts for his character. His performance of “Put on a Happy Face” with Sarah Chiu however is a definite highlight of the production.

Richard Kind as Harry Macafee is a lovable schlub of orneriness as along with his wife Doris (Jennifer Laura Thompson) wax poetic about what’s the matter with “Kids” today.

I think Ephraim Sykes as Conrad Bridie is a really talented performer but I actually question director Marc Bruni’s treatment of the character. The gimmick in this show was always to capitalize on Elvis Pressley's fame. Making him a Little Ritchard type of character doesn't have the same effect because while Little Ritchard was a big star, he was not nearly as popular as Pressley. There is no question of Sykes’ talent though. His A Lot of Livin’ to Do, as choreographed by Denis Jones, rightfully stops the show cold. It is one of the points where the ensemble bursts out and gives it everything they've got.

Ashlyn Maddox as the All-American Kim Macafee exudes innocence with her rendition of “One Boy”. Her performance brings us back to a time when teenagers had far less to worry about then they do nowadays. I think a lot of us wish those times could return.

Musical Director John Bell conducts a sterling partial restoration of Robert “Red” Ginzler’s original orchestrations with 22 musicians no less. Joshua Clayton provided additional orchestrations when needed. The instrumentation includes the use of instruments that are unheard of now in a modern Broadway musical. Things like French Horn, and eight string players consisting of five violins, two cellos, and upright bass.

I know this show utilized slides back when it was originally presented but I’m sure they were used more sparingly and less overpoweringly than the projections designed for this production by Nathan Scheuer. I don’t know, maybe let scenic designer Lee Savage actually do his job a little more.

I appreciate the fact that the score by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams is presented in full and glorious sounding form, but I am questioning why anyone thought using the title song (written for the movie for Ann Margaret to sing and to bookend the story) for the curtain call was a good idea.

There is no question that Bye, Bye, Birdie’s original Rosie Chita Rivera was and will always be considered a legend of Broadway. When I read that this production was going to be dedicated to her memory, I figured anything that Ms. Rivera performed in the show would be represented. This unfortunately is not the case as one of her big dance numbers called “The Shriner’s Ballet” is nowhere to be found. Krysta Rodriguez would have been fantastic doing it and considering it has never been recorded, it would have been nice to have heard John Morris’ dance music after all this time and make this production a FULL tribute to Chita Rivera.

Bye, Bye, Birdie is one of those shows that deserves more professional productions to be sure. The version at Kennedy Center proves that but if this production is to transfer (similar in the way Spamalot recently did) the creatives need to focus more on the material and performances and less on the technical elements.

Running Time: Two Hours and fifteen minutes with one intermission.

Bye, Bye, Birdie runs through June 15th, 2024, in the Eisenhower Theater at Kennedy Center which is located at 2700 F St NW, Washington, DC. 

Lead photo credit:  Ephraim Sykes and the company of Kennedy Center's Broadway Center Stage production of Bye, Bye Birdie.

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman.

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