Arts & Entertainment
Review: 'Bye Bye Birdie' at Goodspeed Musicals
During intermission and following the performance, it seemed that the word on everyone's lips was "fun."
“A Mother Doesn’t Matter Anymore” George Merrick as Albert Peterson and Kristine Zbornik as Mae Peterson in Goodspeed Musicals’ Bye Bye Birdie, now playing at The Goodspeed through September 8. Photo by Diane Sobolewski.
‘Bye Bye Birdie’ has been around a long time. Joshua S. Ritter, Education Manager and Library Director at Goodspeed Musicals writes in his program notes that the musical opened on Broadway on April 14, 1960 with Chita Rivera in her first leading role, Dick Van Dyke in his musical comedy debut and Dick Gautier in his Broadway debut as Conrad Birdie. Many consider the show, which was originally titled ‘Let’s Go Steady,’ to be the first rock ‘n’ roll musical. This fact made raising funds to produce the musical difficult, but once it opened, ‘Bye Bye Birdie’s’ fresh and satirical portrayal of youth culture won over the critics and helped paved the way for other rock-based classic like my favorites ‘Tommy,’ ‘Godspell’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.’
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Rhett Guter made his Goodspeed debut in the title role of Conrad Birdie, whose character name is a wordplay on the name of the singer Conway Twitty. A Utah native, Mr. Guter played the heartthrob flawlessly and boy, did he look the part. Off stage at the home of the MacAfee family, he was enough of an awful houseguest without crossing the line to insufferable, making it hard not to like the character. "Honestly Sincere" and “One Last Kiss” were two of the strongest parts of the production.
This production of ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ struck me as a kind of fifties teen movie version of the musical and it worked for me. The show has been extended by popular demand, with six performances added in early September.
