BYE BYE BIRDIE Reviews- Page 7

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/17/09 at 2:08am

Namo was being sarcastic. I find his sarcasm to be mixed-to-positive

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/17/09 at 2:09am

As for Funk's quotes, they're still better than the ones you'd find for any of his castmates at 'Bye Bye Birdie.'

Yeah, that means they are all atrocious and he was just plain awful.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/17/09 at 7:51am

Ray- andallthatjazz: Mae Peterson is supposed to be obnoxious, but her sarcastic lines are so well written that a good actress can leave the audience in stitches of laughter. Both the original Mae-- Kay Medford--and the Tommy Tune BYE BYE BIRDIE's Marilyn Cooper delivered their lines with gusto and the audience ate it up. They were both hilarious.

As for the opening song, "An English Teacher" and the closing song, "Rosie", they worked in the original because of the light touch that Gower Champion(choreographer/director) was looking for. The book does work, if performed properly.

Updated On: 10/17/09 at 07:51 AM

[MarkK]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 9:56am

New York Magazine is Mixed

Not sure if this was posted, But, this is by far my favorite reviewer's quote.


"Stamos and Gershon simply lack that critical fizz. Watching them is like waiting for pandas to mate in captivity"


NY Magazine

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 2:54pm

Scott Brown, reviewer of New York Magazine, is out of his mind and out of sync with most of the critics. He seems to lament that the show BYE BYE BIRDIE, as opposed to the Roundabout production of BIRDIE, is not on the order of some heavenly Greek tragi/comedy. Brown is one of the Kids that Harry MacAfee rails against. Get real, Mr. Brown.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:37pm

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.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:49pm

Couldn't agree more with PJ. 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.

[fade2black2]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 5:07pm

"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.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 11:28pm

If Conrad Birdie doesn't swagger, he's not Conrad Birdie. It's a whole other show.

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 12:48am

"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

[gypsy4]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 6:31pm

this production shoulds of had life on broadway!
Birdie.

[Corine2]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 11:32pm

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.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 12:11am

Which DVD? The Ann-Margret one or the Vanessa Williams one.

[jovie27]

Posted: 10/22/09 at 1:09am

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.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/22/09 at 1:23am

^ Ummmm ?

[jovie27]

Posted: 10/22/09 at 1:38am

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.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/22/09 at 1:49am

The April extension was announced less than a week ago, I would think they'd give it a bit more time to see how sales are doing.

[jovie27]

Posted: 10/22/09 at 2:43am

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...

[HOUFlip04]

Posted: 10/22/09 at 5:16pm

I liked the part of the Times review about the interchangeable chorus members. I thought I heard that they wanted more diversity in the ensemble, and all you got was an African-American Ursula and her father. God forbid she have an African-American mother and brother.

And if you cast the teenagers the "appropriate" age, then why cast adults that almost look like their grandparents??? Not that they look old, but compared to their kids...they do!

I renamed this "Bland, Bland Funk...I mean Birdie"

Updated On: 10/22/09 at 05:16 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/22/09 at 5:30pm

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