Bye Bye Birdie

I know I have mentioned it, but in case you didn't know, I am taking part in a production of Bye Bye Birdie. It is with our homeschool group Cast N Crew, and I have done one play with them in the past. We did Annie the musical last sping, and I am proud to say that two of my sisters got large roles, and I got a bit part. Don't feel sorry for me, I didn't want a singing role.

Now, I can sing, but I was afraid that I would be scared to sing in front of people when the time came.

That was not the case at all. I realized that after the four months of rehearsing, I knew the songs, choreography, and lines backward and forward, so why be scared? The director kept telling everyone to smile and put a lot of energy into the songs, but she never had to tell me! I was absolutely beaming the whole time I was onstage. I couldn't figure out why everyone else was not, I mean, I was having the time of my life! Why in the world are they doing drama if they aren't having fun onstage? Golly. Also, you know all the people that you are performing with, and have spent a lot of time with them by that point. Everyone sees you mess up during rehearsals, so you get that out of your system.

So, I decided that I wanted a singing part in Bye Bye Birdie, which is a play set in the 1950s, one of my favorites time periods, about a rock star. It is a satire on teenage idolization of rock stars, like Elvis. Conrad Birdie, the rock star, is based loosely off of Elvis, and more so off of Conway Twitty, who was one of Elvis' biggest rivals in the early days of their carreers. Elvis was drafted to go into the army, and this play is about Conrad giving one last kiss goodbye to one of his biggest fans before he leaves. It's a publicity stunt that his manager, Albert, who is really the star of the show, comes up with.

The play is hilarious! I find most of the songs very sarcastic, which is fun to do, mostly because we can't act in a sarcastic way, but have to show the audience hwo wrong everything is. For example, one of Conrad Birdie's biggest numbers is called Honestly Sincere, which is grossly funny because he is totally fake!

After much description... I got the part of Debra Sue, who is one of Kim's best friends. Kim is the girl that is chosen to receive Birdie's last kiss. As I see parts of the script, I now know that I am in more scenes that I realized at first, which is pretty cool. We have only had two weeks of rehearsals, which means about four so far.

I'm having a lot of fun, and getting to know new people! Updates will be coming.

By the way, don't watch the movie! It is absolutely nothing like the play at all! Listen/watch parts on YouTube, and you'll see why I can't help but smile!

~Debra Sue