The spirit of Elvis Presley will be in the New Hyde Park Memorial High School auditorium this weekend with a revival of “Bye Bye Birdie,” a musical that satirizes events preceding Presley’s 1957 induction into the U.S. Army.
After doing “The Sound of Music” last year, Gary Ferrar, the professional director who heads the high school’s shows, decided the students deserved a chance to let loose on stage.
“I knew they wanted to do something a little wilder and crazy that they could do some dancing in,” he said. “And it fit the talent in the school.”
Anthony DiMarco plays the lead role of Conrad Birdie, the beer guzzling house guest who blows into a little town in Ohio for a promotional stunt: to bestow a last symbolic kiss on some lucky young lady on the Ed Sullivan Show before he gets in step for Uncle Sam.
The plot of “Birdie” was a takeoff on a similar publicity stunt Elvis himself did, giving a specially selected member of the Women’s Army Corps that one last kiss before being inducted into the service and famously having his long locks sheared off.
In “Birdie,” the lucky girl to be kissed is Kim MacAfee from Sweet Apple, Ohio who falls head over heels for the rowdy rock and roll house guest from hell who her father quickly grows to detest for his loutish behavior.
“The show’s very upbeat and she’s a very happy character,” said New Hyde Park Memorial junior Taylor Giallanza, who plays Kim.
Giallanza has vocal performance experience as a member of the Chamber Singers Chorus and the Senior Chorus, but her part in “Birdie” is her first turn on stage.
Ann-Margret played the role in the 1963 film version of the musical, with Paul Lynde playing her father.
The story may seem a bit dated, but the only real difference Giallanza said she perceives is the slang the teenagers use. Their behavior is recognizable, she said.
“Their language is different,” she said. “The pettiness between the guys and the girls is still there.”
Senior Jerryl Abraham, who sang the iconic tune “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” as Nicely Nicely two years ago in “Guys and Dolls” gets to croon a couple of other classic tunes this time around.
He gets to huff his way through that comedic rant about “What’s the matter with kids today?” and fantasize lyrically on appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, the top of TV famedom in its day.
“I feel like this is one of the more modern musicals,” Abraham said.
Asked if he’s incorporated any characteristics of his own parents into his portrayal of MacAfee, he said “a little bit.”
“They’re not as over the top as Mr. MacAfee,” Abraham said. “He’s such an erratic character, it’s fun to act out.”
The rest of the cast has fun too, with the chorus of high school girls singing the “We love you Birdie” chant with the mesmerized sensibility of girls gone gaga for a living legend in a silver jumpsuit.
Elvis Presley was asked to play “Birdie” in the movie version, but turned it down. So audiences seeing this weekend’s production can ponder just what that would have been like.
The show includes a number of recognizable tunes along with “Kids”, including “Put on a Happy Face”, and “A Lot of Livin’ To Do.”
The curtain goes up in the auditorium of New Hyde Park Memorial High School at 500 Leonard Blvd. with a matinee on Thursday, March 13 at 4 p.m. followed by performances on Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets, available for $10 per person or in a family pack of $30 for four, can be purchased online at byebyebirdie.bpt.me or by calling 1-800-838-3006.
