Bye Bye Birdie came and went over the weekend and was a major success during its four night run. Friday and Saturday’s shows drew a full house.

Bye Bye Birdie is based in the 1950s, when a rock and roll star, Conrad Birdie, played by Chris Meyers (12), gets drafted into the war and participates in a promotion where Birdie gives a girl “One Last Kiss”.  But that all goes wrong when Rosie, played by Ani Challian(10), sends the girl’s boyfriend after Conrad and has him punch Conrad and ruin the plan, making his girlfriend, Kim, never want to speak to him again. Plus there are the parents who are trying to keep their children stable and innocent, and wanting  them be like they were when they were younger.

“My favorite part was when Chris Meyers sang ‘Got to be Sincere’. He did such a good job, it was like he was made for that part,” said Elizabeth Henthorn (12).

Since this musical was said to be based of the life of Elvis Presley, Chris Meyers was the perfect candidate to play the part of Conrad Birdie. “I like that Chris didn’t even really need to change his style or personality to play Conrad,” said Courtney Bennet (11).

It is very rare to have two sophomore leads in a musical, but that didn’t stop the directing staff from casting underclassmen Ani Challian and Nathan Morrisette be the leads of Bye Bye Birdie.

“It was fun dancing with my friends, and I’ll take away a better appreciation because of how hard they work. I know what they do is diffucult,” said Cole Wheeler (11).

During the duration of the musical the directors recruited some football players into being Shriners in the play and dance. They were happy to do it and had a great time.

The songs that were in the musical were catchy and captured the essence of the 50’s. There were songs about love, scorn, wishes and everything in between. The actors did a fantastic job getting the message across and putting emotion into the song.

The actors worked for more than three months and even had to come in on weekends and learn all the dances, have voice lessons, and build the elaborate set. The actors put forth a hard work ethic in the three months they rehearsed.

Actors made the stage light up with their dancing. Albert played by Nathan Morrisette (10) had been in dance for eight years and is taking dance fitness along with Chris Meyers this school year.

Bye Bye Birdie was a huge success; people loved it and came back for more. Based on its reactions, the audience had high praise for Bye Bye Birdie.