BYE BYE BIRDIE Reviews — Page 7

Funk is cute but Conrad Birdie is supposed to possess an animalistic sexuality that drives young girls and older women crazy. That animalistic sexuality created a comic motor for the entire show.

A teen idol simply doesn't create the same kind of animalistic frenzy that cuts across age lines. A teen idol creates excitement in preteen girls, but you wouldn't call that kind of frenzy "animalistic."

Without that comic motor, the rest of the show seems unfunny.

It was a cold and cynical move to "teen-ify" the show to emulate things like High School Musical and Glee, and ultimately the material couldn't support it, and it failed.

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"I thought the casting of teenagers as teenagers was actually a hot mess, and switching the focus from the leads (who had no chemistry) to the teens was a terrible mistake, IMO."

I have not seen this “Birdie” and probably will not, but I agree that “Teen-ifying” a show is a mistake. I felt that main problem with “13” (and perhaps this show as well) was the lack of “stage presence” from the young actors. There just was not enough there to carry a show by themselves. There is a reason that most often teens/preteens have been traditionally played by young looking adults.

"Just as an FYI, labels are no longer preserving anything and that includes Kurt Deutsch. The producers are paying for cast albums and the labels are distributing them. So thank the producers of the shows because that's the only way these things are happening these days, save for shows like Wicked."

WELL, Yes, and no. Kurt Deutsch, Thomas Z. Shephard, Ted Chapin and Brian Drutman were all on a PBS show yesterday, talking about the production of cast albums. It was fascinating.

There was a lot of talk about Goddard Lieberson, which was great, but Deutsch is recording stuff every day.

I'm a HUGE fan of Kurt Deutsch, because I'm a huge fan of original Broadway cast recordings in general.

Brian Drutman? Love him, but...

I get that he works for Decca, but he lives between a rock and a hard place. He's losing that battle. Which is tragic. And not his fault.

There was a conversation. Apparently, it costs half a million bucks to record a Broadway show. To make that money back, you need to sell 100,000 units.

I loved this conversation, because the peeps involved spoke honestly. Drutman? Kurt? Thomas? Freaking Goddard Lieberson? Thomas Z. Shephard is not working, anymore. Brian Drutman is working in a corporate environment. Kurt Deutsch has created a new environment, which makes sense.

Drutman has made a FORTUNE for Decca on "Wicked." Also on "Jersey Boys," and "Mamma Mia." Not so much on his re-releases, but YAY on him for doing those. ("Hey, Drutman, re-issue "Doonesbury"!)

Interesting that Deutsch said he wanted to produce "Spring Awakening," but didn't. Kurt loved that show. I'm guessing that he didn't make that take.

I love that all these guys wanted to make musical theatre happen.

Updated On: 10/19/09 at 12:48 AM

I loved IRWIN. In fact, Irwin was my favorite of the bunch. I love Camp!

In my opinion Gina is an excellent actress but can't sing and I loved her in BOEING BOEING! But sadly everytime she tried to sing it was like long nails on a blackboard.

The kids were all terrific and my favorite was FUNK. He is adorable and quite funny! And Jane's performance was priceless.

The only weak link for me was Gina's voice. And when Stamos tried to dance like DVD.

I was told today that this show will close on the same day Shrek closes. I feel bad, but on the other hand I don't.

A friend of mine who is good friends of one of the producers told me the decided to close it when the Roundabout's subscriber base for this show ends. So no extension.

Me too...I was shocked...cause I mentioned SHREK closing and he was like "oh, yeah same day as Birdie" and I was like "What?"...and he was like "Yup, you will find out soon". Then we talked about it in more detail later on.

But, we will see...

She wasn't the original teen cast as Ursula. It was originally Molly Ephraim, who is white.