Hi Hi Birdie For First Time In Nearly 50 YearsBye Bye Birdie, that longtime staple of high school musicals, is finally back on Broadway after a nearly 50 year absence.
With a book by
Michael Stewart and score by
Charles Strouse and
Lee Adams,
Bye Bye Birdie enjoyed boffo box office during its
initial --- and until recently, its only -- Rialto run that began April 14, 1960 at the
Martin Beck Theatre (now the
Al Hirschfeld Theatre) and ended 607 performances later at the
Shubert Theatre on October 7, 1961.
The original
Birdie was directed and choreographed by the great
Gower Champion. That incarnation earned eight Tony nominations including for Best Musical, as well as for Best Featured Actor in a Musical,
Dick Van Dyke (as Albert Peterson), who was catapulted to superstar status.
Chita Rivera (as Rose Alvarez) received her first of nine Tony nominations for her work. Van Dyke and Rivera reunited during the run of her
Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life to relive a bit of
Birdie when they sang "Put On A Happy Face."
Other major actors involved in the original cast included
Paul Lynde (as Harry MacAfee),
Kay Medford (as Albert's mother Mae) and
Charles Nelson Reilly (as Mr. Henkel). Then, of course, there was
Dick Gautier, who portrayed pop idol Conrad Birdie. The role may have been fashioned after
Elvis Presley, but the name was a direct play on
Conway Twitty's, who had initially been slated to play Conrad Birdie but dropped out of the production before it was ever seen by the public.
As
I've previously noted, while a revival never made it to Broadway before
Roundabout Theatre Company's new effort, there was an attempt to bring back
Birdie via the ill-fated 1981 sequel
Bring Back Birdie, which closed on Broadway after only four regular performances. Not even the combined star power of Chita Rivera and
Donald O'Connor (as Albert -- Van Dyke's role redux) could keep that open, but the legendary actress did manage a Tony nod yet again.
Now,
Robert Longbottom becomes the first to revive
Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. The director/choreographer is also the first to mount a show at the newly restored
Henry Miller's Theatre where previews for
Birdie began September 10. Headlined by
John Stamos as Albert and
Gina Gershon as Rose, the cast also boasts
Bill Irwin as Harry,
Jayne Houdyshell as Mae,
Nolan Gerard Funk as Conrad Birdie,
Allie Trimm as Kim MacAfee and
Dee Hoty as Mrs. MacAfee.
Earlier,
it was reported that the tune "Shriner's Ballet" was dropped like a hot fez from the show. Gershon told
New York Daily News theatre critic
Joe Dziemianowicz that the dance number previously thought to be benign enough for countless high school productions suddenly "seemed a little too gang rape-y" for the Broadway revival. Many wags summarily suggested that perhaps the bigger problem might be that Gershon wasn't up to the challenge of filling Chita Rivera's distinguished dance slippers.
Whatever the case may be,
Bye Bye Birdie is already saying hello to packed houses in previews, filling up Henry Miller's Theatre close to 95% capacity. While last week's earnings of $533,736 may seem on the low side, as a non-profit theatre, Roundabout has a huge subscriber base so the number is a bit deceptive. And although the show is only slated to run through January 10, 2010, don't be surprised to see an extension if reviews are favorable after its October 15 opening. Look for my SOB Review shortly after as well.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Allie Trimm, Bill Irwin, Broadway, Bye Bye Birdie, Charles Strouse, Gina Gershon, Jayne Houdyshell, John Stamos, Lee Adams, Michael Stewart, Musical, Nolan Gerard Funk, Revival, Robert Longbottom
Annie (The SOB Review) – Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
* (out of ****)
Leapin' lizards, what a dog.
Regular readers will know that in my appreciation for live theatre, I cut my teeth on the original Broadway production of
Martin Charnin and
Charles Strouse’s
Annie when
I saw the London mounting way back in 1979.
I was charmed by virtually every aspect of the show, beginning with
Martin Charnin and
Charles Strouse's winning score and
Thomas Meehan's lighthearted, whimsical books (with auspicious beginnings for Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal) right through the nuanced, winning performances by
Stratford Johns and
Sheila Hancock, and ultimately to all the magical design elements, particularly
David Mitchell's intricate set.
Flash forward to the current touring production of
Annie, and it’s a pale imitation of that original show. Bet your bottom dollar, because it looks that cheap.
Sure, the story and score still hold up -- in fact, given the current state of the economy, they resonate brilliantly -- but strip away practically every last nuance from the lackluster performances and the glorious design elements that wowed me thirty years ago, and it all comes down to what this
Annie amounts to.
To put it simply, it’s a scrim. No, not a scream, but one scrim after another after another, nearly devoid of most actual scenic design. It looks as cheap as it is bad. There's absolutely no magic. No wonder this revival falls so flat.
I’m truly grateful to
Gratuitous Violins for taking me as her guest, but at the risk of sounding like an ingrate, I’d like to scratch what
I had to say about
Guys And Dolls. This warmed-over
Annie marks the worst, most disappointing musical revival I’ve seen over the past year.
It’s a hard knock, but someday, if not tomorrow, a dazzling revival worthy of the exceptional core show will come knocking.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Annie, Charles Strouse, David Mitchell, Gratuitous Violins, Martin Charnin, Musical, Sheila Hancock, Stratford Johns, The SOB Review, Thomas Meehan, Touring Production
Did LA Critics Think Minsky's Worth Raiding For Musical?No doubt wistfully hoping for a Main Stem three-peat of sorts, Los Angeles'
Center Theatre Group -- which hosted the launch of two would-be Rialto musicals that would go on to be Tony nominated for Best Musical:
Bob Martin's
The Drowsy Chaperone and
John Kander and
Fred Ebb's
Curtains -- is currently producing the long-gestating, Broadway-aimed
Minsky's.
With score by the venerable
Charles Strouse and
Susan Birkenhead, this new tuner is being touted as a good old-fashioned musical comedy. It also marks another collaboration for Bob Martin and
Casey Nicholaw -- just as the former wrote
The Drowsy Chaperone's clever book with the latter directing and choreographing, they possess the same credits for
Minsky's.
If collaboration is the word, it may come as no surprise that their Tony-winning Best Featured Actress
Beth Leavel is also cast in this production. Leavel is joined by a truly terrific-sounding cast, including
Christopher Fitzgerald -- who is finally receiving his due as leading man in the eponymous role --
Kevin Cahoon,
John Cariani and
Rachel Dratch, along with two actors who made
Hairspray's Edna Turnblad their own as major Great White Way replacements:
Paul Vogt and
George Wendt.
So far, so good, right?
Minsky's opened Sunday night and the reviews were, well, a bit skimpy on the praise. But as
Michael Riedel points out, there's apparently enough, er, material there to keep moving forward -- albeit with some major tailoring -- to make it Broadway ready.
Leaving "
Minsky’s not with the tingly sensation of having seen something exciting and maybe a little sinful, but with the feeling that you’ve attended a comforting church service,"
The New York Times'
Charles Isherwood practically damns with the faintest traces of praise: "
Minsky’s is a musical comedy that too often seems to be looking back to familiar formulas, dusting off and sprucing up clichés from the showbiz trunk for another repurposing....
Minsky’s seems content to do the old steps in the old style, on the assumption that sentimental escapism presented with gusto and polish can turn the trick one more time.... They call it burlesque, and the sequins are used a little more sparingly, but it feels a lot like plain-vanilla Broadway.... The short and slightly portly Mr. Fitzgerald makes an appealingly offbeat leading man in the tough-talking but soft-hearted vein.... Ms. Dratch and Mr. Cariani as the matched misfits almost steal the show with a sour-grapes duet, 'I Want a Life.'... On the whole the score is bubbly and pleasant, with an accent on brassy energy."
Calling the show a "nostalgic and not terribly authentic backstage musical
," Los Angeles Times critic
Charles McNulty also offers a mixed review: "[T]hough far from terrible, isn’t quite the electric crowd-pleaser they’re intending. Intermittently delightful, the musical is just as intermittently bumbling, coming alive mostly in the colorful burlesque sequences and taking a sharp nose-dive when attempts are made to contain the parade of skimpily clad dancing girls and shamelessly hoary gags into a traditional book musical.... There are plenty of nifty one-liners and deliriously silly shenanigans, but the book, which has been transplanted from the mid-’20s (in which the film was set) to the Depression-clobbered summer of 1930, has that lumpy look of a dish that’s been fiddled with by too many cooks. Even its dire economic relevance feels belabored.... But the tone of the show could have benefited from a few more grains of documentary truth and a whole lot less musical-comedy fraudulence.... Fitzgerald, who possesses a great trumpet of a voice, excels when a gaggle of leggy showgirls is circling him to the rhythmic bleats of the live orchestra. Leading man he’s not, but he more than compensates with an offbeat charisma.... Leavel ... can be counted on for oomph.... An eccentric constellation of supporting players distracts from the musical’s more threadbare patches."
Despite declaring, "Irresistible throughout is the tuner's cavalcade of song and dance,"
Variety's Bob Verini also gives the show a mixed critique: "The potential of a tuner titled
Minsky's ... is partly realized in its Ahmanson Theater premiere thanks to a strong Charles Strouse/Susan Birkenhead score and state-of-the-art musical staging by helmer-choreographer Casey Nicholaw. On the debit side are a thin, uninvolving storyline and curiously antiseptic take on the raffish art form the tuner purports to celebrate.... Irresistible throughout is the tuner's cavalcade of song and dance.... Aside from Leavel, tuner is light on top bananas and comics generally, though Paul Vogt, John Cariani and Rachel Dratch are amusingly off-kilter zanies. Fitzgerald juggles Billy's machinations with
Mike Todd's brash vitality until he's turned cute and doughy by the love plot, which practically evaporates even as he and (
Katharine) Leonard speak the lines."
Concluding that "the outlines of a well-shaped musical shine through
," The Orange County Record's
Paul Hodgins nevertheless lays bear what he sees as the show's shortfalls: "There are moments of great fun, inspiration and even brilliance in this show.... Indeed, on the level of simple entertainment it succeeds just fine. But in its present form, Martin's contributions to Hunter's original book result in touches of whimsy (mostly welcome) that don't always gibe with other parts of the tale.... The songs are one of
Minsky's strong points.... They smartly capture the sass and verbal adroitness of the time and place.... Nicholaw captures the libertine spirit of classic burlesque with a few elaborately choreographed breast-baring (but not nipple-revealing) moments. Nicholaw shows us that Golden Age burlesque was primarily spectacle and as much a comic as an erotic diversion. I suspect
Minsky's creators know there's plenty of work to be done.... The talented Beth Leavel is given too little to do as Billy's worldly sidekick, Maisie. Fitzgerald's performance is somewhat monochromatic."
I'll be keeping a close eye on this show as it continues making its long journey to Broadway. But right now, the Los Angeles production perhaps seems as far away from its end goal as possible.
UPDATE (2.13.09, 1:45 p.m. EST): According to Playbill, Minsky's will bow on the Great White Way sometime during the 2009-10 Theatrical Season.This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Beth Leavel, Bob Martin, Casey Nicholaw, Charles Strouse, Christopher Fitzgerald, Critics' Capsule, John Cariani, Kevin Cahoon, Los Angeles, Minsky's, Rachel Dratch, Susan Birkenhead, Tryout
Hello Birdie?According to
Liz Smith in
Variety,
Bye Bye Birdie may be headed toward a Broadway revival. Smith gushes in her column that "
Charles Strouse says he'll bring his all-American musical
Bye Bye Birdie back to the
Roundabout!"
The tuner with book by
Michael Stewart and score by
Lee Adams and Strouse has never before been revived on the Great White Way.
Its one and only run began April 14, 1960 and ran for 607 performances. The original production garnered eight Tony nominations including for Best Musical, as well as for Best Featured Actor in a Musical,
Dick Van Dyke, who was catapulted to superstar status.
Chita Rivera received her first of nine Tony nominations for her work. Van Dyke and Rivera reunited during the run of her
Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life to relive a bit of
Birdie when they sang "Put On A Happy Face."
Although a revival has never made it to Broadway, there was an attempt to bring back
Birdie via the ill-fated 1981 sequel
Bring Back Birdie that closed on Broadway after just four regular performances. Not even Chita Rivera's star power could keep that open, but she did manage a Tony nod yet again.
My only experience in ever seeing
Bye Bye Birdie in its entirety was through a high school production when I was just a kid (my sister portrayed one of the swooning teens).
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Bye Bye Birdie, Charles Strouse, Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, First Word On New Show, Musical, Revival, Roundabout Theatre
Hi Hi Birdie For First Time In Nearly 50 Years
