Bye Bye Birdie

Musical to open Friday at Clinton High School

The Clinton High School Drama Department will present Bye Bye Birdie on Friday, Saturday and April 19 in the Clinton School Auditorium. Appearing in the musical are, standing, from left, Whitney Wilkins as Rosie and Josh Pryor as Albert Peterson; and in the foreground, Kayla Meeler as Kim and Shelby Pistole as Conrad Birdie.
The Clinton High School Drama Department will present Bye Bye Birdie on Friday, Saturday and April 19 in the Clinton School Auditorium. Appearing in the musical are, standing, from left, Whitney Wilkins as Rosie and Josh Pryor as Albert Peterson; and in the foreground, Kayla Meeler as Kim and Shelby Pistole as Conrad Birdie.

Every generation has its teen idol. Many of those heartthrobs have been immortalized on stage and screen. Such is the case of the fictional rock star Conrad Birdie.

Birdie is the star of Bye Bye Birdie, the hit musical that took Broadway by storm in 1960. Based loosely on real-life events experienced by Elvis Presley when he was drafted into the Army in 1958, the story will come to life as the spring production of the Clinton High School Drama Department.

Curtain time is 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Clinton High School Auditorium and 2 p.m. April 19. Admission is $5 at the door.

The cast will also present the play for elementary and intermediate school students at 9 a.m. Friday in the auditorium and for junior and senior high school students at 2 p.m. Friday.

Rebekkah Hays, drama teacher and director of the play, said Bye Bye Birdie, with the book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse, started out in 1958 as a spoof of teenage life in America called Let’s Go Steady.

“Unsatisfied with the script, the [production] team looked to real-life headlines of the day for inspiration and found exactly what they were looking for — in March of 1958, Elvis Presley was drafted into the U.S. Army, causing a huge media sensation,” Hays said. “By the time he left for Germany in September of that year, the country was transfixed by the story.

“They began to rewrite the book to center around the drafting of a teen rock ’n’ roll idol and its effect on America — sweetly represented by the teenagers and adults of a Midwestern town in Ohio,” Hays said. “The teen idol was named Conrad Birdie and was written to be a composite of Elvis Presley’s persona mixed with Conway Twitty’s name.”

The 1960 Broadway musical won a Tony Award for Best Musical, with Dick Van Dyke winning the Tony for Best Performance by a featured actor in a musical. Van Dyke would recreate his role as Albert Peterson, manager of Conrad Birdie, in the 1963 film version of Bye Bye Birdie, which also starred Janet Leigh and Ann-Margret. A TV version of the musical was made in 1995, starring Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams.

As the story unfolds, Birdie has been drafted, and his manager, Peterson, and Peterson’s girlfriend, Rosie, are trying to come up with a publicity stunt that will help them survive financially after Birdie’s departure. They plan to send Birdie to a small town in America to give a good-bye kiss to one lucky fan.

They choose Kim MacAfee of Sweet Apple, Ohio, who is the president of the local Conrad Birdie Fan Club. Birdie arrives in town, and chaos ensues.

Clinton High School’s production of Bye Bye Birdie features 30 students; most of them have performed in previous drama-department productions.

Shelby Pistole, a junior at Clinton High School, appears as Conrad Birdie in the

upcoming production.

When asked to describe his character, Pistole said simply, “Elvis Presley.”

“Theatre is becoming my passion.”

Pistole played Tweedledee in last year’s spring play, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He said he first appeared on stage in 2011 when the drama department presented Fiddler on the Roof.

Although he is not sure where he will attend college, Pistole said he is thinking about Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.

“I want to major in music and minor in theater,” he said.

Sophomore Josh Pryor plays Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie.

“Albert is the manager of Conrad,” Pryor said, “but he’s got to decide between what his girlfriend, Rosie, wants and doing what his mama tells him to do. He has some trouble there.”

Pryor said he has been performing in school plays since he was in the first grade. Last year, he played the caterpillar in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

He said he is not sure what he wants to study in college.

“I’m thinking about teaching, but that’s pretty far in the future,” he said.

Senior Whitney Wilkins portrays Rosie Alvarez in the play.

“Rosie is Albert’s secretary and girlfriend,” Wilkins said. “She is very angry with Albert because she’s been in love with him for eight years, and he keeps postponing their marriage.”

Wilkins played the Red Queen in the 2014 drama department’s production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Wilkins plans to attend Arkansas Tech University in Russellville and major in pre-med and biology. She hopes to become an osteopath.

Senior Kayla Meeler appears as Kim MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie.

“I play Kim, the 15-year-old girl who has been chosen to receive Conrad’s farewell kiss,” Meeler said. “She is trying to convince her boyfriend that it’s OK for her to kiss another boy.”

Meeler played Alice in last year’s school play. She plans to attend Harding University in Searcy and major in psychology.

“I plan to minor in theater,” Meeler said, adding that she has been in school plays for the past six years.

Each of the four lead characters has a solo in the musical.

As Rosie, Wilkins sings “An English Teacher.” As Albert, Pryor sings “Put on a Happy Face” and “Rosie.” As Kim, Meeler sings “How Lovely to Be a Woman.” And as Conrad Birdie, Pistole sings “Honestly Sincere” and “One Last Kiss.”

Other members in the Bye Bye Birdie cast include the following:

• Jake Trogden, a sophomore, appears as Hugo Peabody, Kim’s “steady” boyfriend, who is jealous of Conrad Birdie.

• Alyssa McKnight, a sophomore, plays Ursula Merkle, Kim’s friend and a huge Conrad Birdie fan.

• Mackenzie Weaver, a sophomore, portrays Mrs. MacAfee, Kim’s mother.

• Regan McGaha, a sophomore, plays Mr. MacAfee, Kim’s father.

• Tiffany Burns, a junior, appears as Mrs. Peterson, Albert’s overbearing mother.

• Dalton James, a senior, portrays Mr. Johnson, Harvey’s father.

• Gabie Jones, a senior, plays Mrs. Merkle, Ursula’s mother.

• Katie McHale, a junior, portrays Gloria Rasputin, the woman Mrs. Peterson met on the train and wants Albert to choose over Rosie.

Members of the Sweet Apple Teen Chorus include Savanah Trujillo, a junior, as Helen; Abby Robbins, a junior, as Nancy; Libby Walsh, a sophomore, as Alice; Juliana Parish, a sophomore, as Margie; Alahna Martin, a junior, as Penelope; Kiera Timmons, a junior, as Suzie; Jennifer Lovell, a senior, as Deborah Sue; and Chase Cook, a junior, as Karl. Donovan Turner, a senior, plays Harvey Johnson, and Shayla Nicholson, a junior, plays the leader of the Teen Chorus.

Also appearing in Bye Bye Birdie are Summer Epley, a sophomore who plays Ruby MacAfee, Kim’s sister; Nikki Pastor, a freshman who portrays a sad girl at the train station; Cassie Rhoda, a junior who plays a teenager; Jentry Wade and Myra Hawes, sophomores who appear as reporters; Ryder McGaha, a senior who plays the mayor of Sweet Apple; Rebecca Lewis, a sophomore who portrays Edna, the mayor’s wife; and Chris Shelton, a senior who plays a policeman.

Hays said she chose Bye Bye Birdie as the drama department’s spring production.

“They wanted to do Grease, but we didn’t have enough to fill the men’s roles,” she said, “so I chose this play. It’s in the same time period.”

She said the students watched both the movie version and the TV version of Bye Bye Birdie as they began rehearsals. Cast members were chosen during auditions.

When Hays took over the drama department two years ago, there was only one play produced each year. The department now does two a year. The fall production was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which was performed outdoors in an amphitheater.

Hays has been a faculty member at Clinton High School for five years; she was first hired to teach English. She also teaches oral communication and journalism, and she serves as adviser for the yearbook staff.

Hays graduated from Shirley High School in 2002 and received a degree in theater from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 2006.

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