ASU Lyric Opera Theatre's Bye Bye Birdie at The Music Theatre
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 10/1/99
(out of )It's one of the greats from the tail end of the "Golden Age" of Broadway Musicals. One word is all that is needed, and everyone knows what show it is: Birdie. Albert and Rosie, Kim and Conrad. A song list that reads like a hit parade, including "Put on a Happy Face," "A Lot of Living To Do," "Kids," and "How Lovely to be a Woman." Screaming teenagers and a shady rock star. A boy, his momma, and the woman that comes between them. It's the classic that all high schools and colleges produce at least once a decade. And so, ASU's Lyric Opera Theatre has put aside powdered wigs and pomp for poodle skirts and pompadours, mounting the early sixties homage to itself, Bye Bye Birdie.
Helming this production is the very capable Joann Yeoman, a veteran of several professional productions of Birdie herself. Ms. Yeoman has taken some risks, and made some different choices, many of which unfortunately do not work. For example, the set is dominated by a giant stylized television, on which slides of newspaper headlines, pictures in the mind of a character, and even live video of the onstage events are offered. It's a great idea in theory, but the execution is ineffective. Half of the newspaper headlines (on a tv set?) are difficult to read, the extended section using pictures to show the thoughts of a character is slow and almost painful to watch, and the video section, shown in a living color not to be widely seen until later in the decade, is miniscule. More earnestly attempted risks like these also fail throughout the production, but some do work, such as retaining an oft cut song and dialogue sequence to strengthen the serious undertone of racism that runs throughout the piece. The final result is a production that often falters, losing steam much of the time, while occasionally soaring as high as this fluffy musical should.
In what can only be called one of the biggest cases of opening night jitters in this town in the past few seasons, the energy level of the entire cast fluctuated wildly, generally staying below what is necessary to make this production succeed. Many of the leads walked through their lines to get to their well-sung songs, and technical glitches in set, sound, and lights rob this production of its potential for professionalism. The saving graces are the wonderfully sung and solidly danced numbers, and few perfectly campy acting performances.
To make matters worse, three of the five leads give unimpressive acting turns. Jason Paul has a great voice and dances well, but he plays Albert as a momma's boy from beginning to end, never making a believable transformation, and rushing his lines as though he is racing to get to his next song-and-dance number. Amy Hackerd is better acting Rosie, while singing sweetly and feverishly dancing up a storm, but her chemistry with Mr. Paul is nearly non-existent. Though believable as the teenaged Kim, Lauren Van Assche is not powerful enough to propel her character over the footlights. Balancing the disappointments of these main leads are Ithamar Enriquez, Jr. and Dannielle Tagger as Conrad Birdie and Momma Peterson, who are simply amazing, playing the campiness of their characters, while obviously having fun with their roles.
The ensemble fares a bit better, although they, too, seem more comfortable singing than acting. The exceptions to this include Robby Sharpe as Kim's jealous steady, Hugo, Jessica Chapman as the nerdy Ursula, and an impressive performance by sixth grader Danny Torgersen as Kim's silly younger brother, Randolph. There are moments where the ensemble shines, such as the hilarious "You've Got to Be Sincere" and Shriner's numbers, and the wonderful "Baby Talk to Me" quartet.
Gary L. Campbell's Set Design is a combination of atrocious and unworkable, and David Temby's Sound Design was badly mishandled by his running crew this night, resulting in offstage actors' mikes remaining on for long stretches. Michael Eddy's lighting, Esther Turner's costumes, and Carol Simmons' hair and make up are wonderful, perfectly capturing the Camelot-era. Much of Ms. Yeoman's choreography is up to her usual high standards, such as the tap number for "Put on a Happy Face," and "The Telephone Hour." Callum Morris' orchestra played a surprising amount of sour notes and sounded under-rehearsed.
Lyric Opera Theatre always offers an interesting mix of classic opera and modern musicals. This is reflected in their current season, which continues with The Coronation of Poppea, Pippin, and H.M.S. Pinafore. Sometimes, the students are more comfortable with the musicals than the operas, and vice versa. This may simply have been the case of the classically trained attempting the modern, with mixed results.
Production Details:
Bye Bye Birdie
Music by Charles Strouse, Book by Michael Stewart,
Lyrics by Lee Adams
ASU Lyric Opera Theatre
The Music Theatre, Tempe
(480) 965-6647
October 1st - October 10th, 1999