THE SHOW MUST GO ON

The recent blizzard did not stop the Hauppauge Middle School students from presenting an excellent rendition of Bye Bye Birdie, directed by Jacob and Simon Pincus.

The play follows the stories of two women characters who are not-so-subtly manipulating their male counterparts. Although Rosie (played by Katie Dolce) and Kim (played by Kellianne Parrett) are about 20 years apart in age, both experience a sort of epiphany at the same time in the musical realizing that their male significant others have been holding them back. This is an impactful statement from a musical that was written in 1957 satirizing that very time period in which it was written. Generations and gender roles collide and collapse when rock star, Conrad Birdie (played by Michael Seda), arrives in Sweet Apple in this incredibly relevant musical written almost 40 years before Justin Bieber was born!

“While putting up this musical, there was a lot of discussion about working together, the ensemble, community and commitment,” stated Pincus.” The cast gained an understanding of the great amount of effort it takes to put on a musical and work together as a team.” Rehearsals regularly began by playing “keep it up” with a medium-sized green bouncy ball, “so the students could understand what it means for everyone to contribute and not ‘drop the ball’,” described Pincus. “The students showed signs of leadership and cooperation, and we saw great growth in every student throughout the process. We were inspired by the enthusiasm and hard work that they brought with them every day to rehearsal.”

According to Pincus, “The end product didn’t need to be a musical. We had three months to provide 60 middle schoolers with a common goal. The magic comes from the fact that these 60 middle schoolers came together and made something in these three months.”