Teen idol Conrad Birdie has been drafted into the Army, and teenage girls around the country are heartbroken! Mount Vernon Community Theatre will produce the musical Bye Bye Birdie at the MARC, the Mount Vernon Arts and Recreations Center, 822 Mt.Vernon Blvd, July 23-26. Matt Teal, who plays Albert Peterson, the manager of the Elvis-like singing sensation Conrad Birdie, tells KSMU about how this show was selected.
"When our reading committee got together, we were mindful that we had done two shows with kind of somber endings, Fiddler on the Roof two years ago and then last year was Shenandoah. So we decided we needed to do something that was just more fun, that ended a little more happy, and kind of keep people smiling all the way through."
Kaitlin Morell plays Rosie Alvarez, Albert's secretary--and one of Conrad's behind-the-scenes "handlers." "This is my first performance with Mount Vernon Community Theatre, and I'm so excited tobe a part of this show in particular. It's been a lot of fun." And no, Rosie is not like the teenage girls who idolize Conrad: she's seen way too much of him offstage and considers him an unruly man-child. In fact, she and Albert are dating.
Adds Matt Teal, "Conrad is difficult to manage. He's a hedonist, he's a man-child, he wants to have a good time. Now that he's going into the Army, he really wants to let go--and Albert can't have that, because Conrad has a public image. He's a 'fine, upstanding, patriotic American boy.'" Conrad's team hatches a publicity campaign for Conrad to go to a small Ohio town and bestow one last kiss on one lucky girl before reporting for basic training... and as Kaitlin Morell says, "it's just pretty much a train wreck!"
Among the score's highlights is the famous "Put On a Happy Face." But, says Matt Teal, "one of the interesting things about Bye Bye Birdie is, like so many musicals written in the '50s and '60s, it's been revised by the (original) composer and lyricist to accommodate modern sensibilities." That includes adding material that was first used in the motion-picture adaptation.
Andrew Jones plays Conrad, and both Matt and Kaitlin feel he has nailed the "Elvis" vibe. "He's just doing a fantastic job really claiming that character," says Kaitlin.
Kathy Teal directs the show. Asked if, as her husband, he was a lock for a role in this show, Matt Teal laught and says, "No, I go through the exact same process everyone else does. My wife would never allow me to assume that I'm going to get a part! She makes me work for it."
Bye Bye Birdie will open at the MARC in Mount Vernon Thursday July 23rd and run through Saturday the 25th at 7:00pm, with a Sunday matinee at 3:00pm on the 26th. Tickets will be available Monday and Tuesday evenings from 6-9pm with the MARC box office is open, as well as at the door on show nights. Call (417) 413-4104 or email mtvernoncommunitytheatre@gmail.com.
