Fort Frances High School students will take to the Townshend Theatre stage tonight during their opening-night performance of the Tony-Award winning musical “Bye Bye Birdie.”
The production, a satire on American society set in 1958, centres around superstar Conrad Birdie—a character based on popular icon Elvis Presley—and the complications that arise when his agent, Albert Peterson, arranges a publicity stunt on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
The superstar will kiss one lucky girl, Kim MacAfee, before being drafted into the army.
“It’s a really good show,” enthused producer and FFHS music teacher John Dutton. “We did it before and I remember how much fun it was.”
Fort High students staged the musical back in 1992 with leads Tom Kallstrom (Birdie), Chris Lowe (Peterson), Joe Carlson (Mr. MacAfee), and Rachel Koprowski (Kim MacAfee).
Dutton said this year’s production also has a number of strong performers, including Alex Marusyk playing the heart-throb Birdie, Scott Barker as Peterson, Ken Kellar as Mr. MacAfee, Katelyn Shortreed as Kim MacAfee, and Lauren Gurski as Rosie Alvarez.
He added the show encompasses a large cast and crew, with more than 60 members.
“The kids have been working really hard,” Dutton remarked during a dress rehearsal last week.
He did admit it’s been difficult since they are staging this production a week earlier than last year’s “Pirates of Penzance.”
And with both March Break and Easter falling in March, rehearsals were often limited or missing cast members due to other obligations.
Dutton said both the cast and crew had a lot of work to do within the past week, including finalizing costumes, completing the set, and polishing lines, songs, and choreography.
But he stressed it definitely will be a show worth seeing.
“It will definitely be ready in time for opening night and I know the audience will really enjoy this production, whether they already know the story or not,” Dutton promised.
The show features such songs as “The Telephone Hour,” “Honestly Sincere,” “One Last Kiss,” “Put on a Happy Face,” and “Kids.”
Dutton explained due to the era in which the musical is set, there are several up-beat numbers with plenty of dance sequences.
“That’s once major difference between this show and when we did it back many years ago,” he said, explaining that during their 1992 rendition of “Bye Bye Birdie,” they didn’t have the means for developing effective choreography.
FFHS teacher and choreographer Sherree Denby has been on board with the musicals for many years now and has worked with this year’s cast on some intricate dance numbers.
“We also have a strong orchestra, which is good because the music is difficult,” Dutton noted. “But it’s really good music. There is some jazz trumpet—some fun stuff.”
If people don’t recognize the musical from the 1992 performance here, they may have seen either of the two movies. The first adaptation of the stage show was made in 1963 with Dick Van Dyke, Janet Leigh, Paul Lynde, Jesse Pearson, and Ann-Margret.
The most recent version, which was made-for-television, was aired in 1995 featuring Jason Alexander, Vanessa Williams, and Tyne Daly.
This latter version remained mostly true to the original play.
The high school’s rendition of “Bye Bye Birdie” runs tonight (March 26) through Saturday (March 29) beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Townshend Theatre.
Advance tickets, available Northwoods Gallery & Gifts, cost $10 for adults and $7 for students/seniors.
Tickets also will be available at the door.
