Book by Mike Stewart
Lyrics by Lee Adams
Music by Charles Strouse
Although he has an important role, the magnetic Conrad Birdie is not the hero of the play, but rather his manager Albert Peterson, aided by the latter's secretary Rose Alvarez. She urges Albert to abandon this mode of existence and fulfill his academic calling, but he must first find fifty thousand dollars compensation for Conrad and the 3 Birdies upon termination of contract due to their having been conscripted into the American Armed Forces.
Rose soon has a plan to realize this sum. Albert is to compose a 'hit' tune, "One Last Kiss," for the televising on The Ed Sullivan Show of a personal farewell to Conrad by the Secretary of the Birdie Fan Club, Kim Macafee, who lives in Sweet Apple, Ohio. News of the call-up so upsets one young fan that Albert feels obliged to restore her spirits. The Birdies' reception by the local worthies is the occasion for Conrad's 'pop' philosophical "Honestly Sincere", which provokes the usual screams and faintings (not always confined to the teenage generation).
When Albert's Mother mischievously introduces the vampish Gloria to Albert, Rose responds by getting Kim's "steady," Hugo Peabody, to wreck the television show by settling his differences with Conrad in front of the cameras.
Later, Kim joins Rose and informs her parents she has a lot of living to do with Conrad. The severely strained relationships are highlighted by the dissension between the younger and older generations. Kim's and Conrad's example is followed by others, among whom Rose, firstly in Spanish Style, then near-Turkish, dances her way into a private meeting of Sweet Apple Rotarians. Albert gets her back only by at last putting an end to his mother's interference. When Conrad sees how Kim misconstrues his supposed view of life he is glad to drop the pose. He regards his call-up as redemption and relieves Albert of his contractual obligations
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| Memories | Contributed By |
| The worst moment I remember was when that scaffolding fell
down during the group photo and cut Debbie Stanton's leg open.
Wearing a mink coat (for my role as Mama) in August wasn't too bad, but when we had to improvise because Dad (Chris Stone) missed his entrance for about 3 minutes, that was bad! |
---Sue Holden |
| The memory that sticks out the most is when I (Mr. McAfee)
missed an entrance in (our particularly bloody production - whose idea WAS
that scaffolding?) of "Birdie" and left Jim Fauntleroy (Albert)
stranded on stage by himself carrying on an imaginary phone conversation
for probably close to a full minute (i.e. 2 hours in theater time) before
I finally remembered I had an entrance. Of course he got his revenge (he
claims unintentionally) the next year in "Music Man" when he
(Marcellus) stranded me (Harold) on stage alone talking to myself about
"damn librarians" for a similar interval. Ah, the joys of live
theater.
Of course, the post-rehearsal battle cry for at least a couple of summers when my parents were away for a month was "Party at Stone's." I got very good at Beer Pong those summers. |
---Chris Stone |
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