Bye Bye Birdie Revival???

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:27pm

Why hasn't there ever been a Bye Bye Birdie revival? It's a well loved and well known classic so why no revival?!

[Horton]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:30pm

I dont think it should be revived, just let it be remembered as a crappy film, it was not that great!

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:31pm

I've never seen the original movie but I have the TV remake on VHS and really enjoy it!

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:33pm

I can't say for sure, but my guess is because it is a just above mediocre show and is CONSTANTLY being done in schools.

You could almost say everyone has seen it or been in it.

Don't know if that is the answer, but I'm sure it is part of it.

Updated On: 10/19/06 at 05:33 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:34pm

They tried reviving it at Encores a few years ago, and the end result proved that the show is a little more creaky and dated than initially thought, and doesn't work without a majorly gifted director/choreographer like Gower Champion.

Columbia has also been developing a film remake for about ten years which probably has kept a major Broadway revival way out in the pasture to graze.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:34pm

Encores did it a few years ago. I don't think people are that interested in it.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:35pm

TWO films - with a third that WAS in production, however it fell through.

If it is revived, I can only see it succeeding if they set it in today's times. Replace Ed Sullivan with Oprah Winfrey or David Letterman (which I would HATE to happen but do what ya gotta do).

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:38pm

They also had a tour a few years ago with Tommy Tune and Ann Reinking (sp?) I heard it was great!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 5:45pm

Hook - you can not update Biride successfully. That is what the executives at Columbia discovered after they hired a young UCLA grad to try to give them a modernization. The show was a satire of a timely social event: Elvis Presley being drafted into the army.

You could change Ed Sullivan to Oprah or make it all part of a reality show, but the humour would be lost and frankly, it wouldn't be BYE BYE BIRDIE - it would be something else - and at that point - why try to remake it - why not just write a completely new musical?

[Jon]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:16pm

Dave Letterman
Dave Letterman
We're gonna be on Dave Letterman


Nah... just doesn't make it...

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:20pm

And even if that new lyric worked - the "hymn" music: the homage to the Norman Rockwall nuclear family of the 1950s wouldn't.

Updating it would be about as successful as setting SOUTH PACIFIC in Iraq.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:23pm

Michael Bennett,

Precisely. Updating it wouldn't do the show justice. So I say leave it alone and let it rest in peace.

And for the record - Columbia didn't hire the UCLA grad, he had the screenplay before hand. Columbia ceased production because the money fell through. They felt we weren't ready for that type of musical, even if it would have starred Justin Timerblake and was made more hip-hop.

[jv92]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:28pm

It isn't all that mediocre, crappy, dated and so on. It's very well written. The problem is that there's no director that can stage it as well as Champion and no cast that can perform it as well as the original.
Why is everyone so insistant on it being updated? It's a freaking period piece. It's a satiric look at the 50s and 60s which many people find amusing. They do in high schools at least.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:28pm

Well, the guy in question, Jon Chu didn't exactly have the script: a short musical student film he directed at UCLA caught the attention of Lucy Fisher at Columbia, and they, wanting to remake BIRDIE approached Chu, and he sold them on the project with his ideas for how to update it. It all sounded good in a pitch room but the script didn't work. At all.

Columbia dropped those ideas, and for a while was planning on doing a period remake with Lindsay Lohan verbally attached to star. It's still in their list of projects in development and if say, DREAMGIRLS is a smash, they may just fast track it.

EDIT: My apologies Trojans, Jon Chu is a USC grad, not UCLA.
Updated On: 10/19/06 at 07:28 PM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 7:35pm

Michael Bennett - right on. EXCEPT - there was a script that got reworked/revamped (better to say rewritten) during pre-development.

Columbia still has the rights, however I don't see them making the film, even if DREAMGIRLS and HAIRSPRAY are both huge successes.

[goldenstate5]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 12:10am

For a true Bye Bye Birdie revival to happen, a huge 50's nostalgic wave would have to sweep America...which happened about a decade ago and a touring production sort of took care of that.

Either that or have it done really over the top and cartoonish, aka the Guys and Dolls revival and (to a lesser extent) the H2$ revival. The latter with Bye Bye Birdie, I think would be awesome to see on B'way, just get some top talent together and I honestly think a huge hit would be on our hands...

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 2:02am

I saw a production of it last year and didn't particularly care for the show. I don't think a revival is necessary.

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 2:15am

I think it's a hilarious show, however dated it may be. I've been involved with a Southern California touring production of the show for about seven months now, and I still crack up at some of these lines. It takes a little nostalgic appreciation and understanding to really enjoy the dialogue, but I think the music is so classic and fun that it can be done quite well and, hey, it could easily be the next Pajama Game. That was pretty unexpected.

[Producer2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 7:24am

get susan stroman or kathleen marshall involved!
maybe the grease revival will bring interest back in the 50's!
maybe not!

[camfatkin_]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 12:13pm

my high school did the show a couple years ago (my dad directed it) and although i didnt enjoy th original movie...i loved the TV remake...possibly because it was filmed literally down my street at the town hall (the big yellow building in it)...wow, bye bye birdie just seems to follow me around

[MotorTink]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 12:18pm

Not revival related, but yesterday Alice Cooper was doing an interview on a local radio station. He started at one point repeating the words to "Kids", it was quite hilarious.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 12:35pm

Sadly, Broadway has been saddled with garbage like All Shook Up and now this most recent TV Grease revival. Id place BBB above either of those two shows any day.

[StandingO]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 12:54pm

The 1991 touring revival with Tommy Tune and Ann Reinking was fabulous. It was an adorable, very entertaining show. The costumes, scenery, choreography and all the performances were terrific! They made HAPPY FACE a wonderful tap number and added a song called GIANT STEP for Albert after he finally tells his mother to leave him alone. They also added HE'S MINE which I think carried over into the recent TV movie with Jason Alexander. The BIRDIE tour was also where some very talented people got started: Marc Kudisch (Conrad) Susan Egan (Kim) Steve Zahn (Hugo)and Jessica Stone (Ursula) to name a few.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 1:04pm

Was the mother's song added for the tv revival? It was a great song. I wish Encores had included it for Doris Roberts to sing.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 1:11pm

I saw the 1991 tour and they did a fine job-- but it is a piece of the moment and all but impossible to update. I think you'd need a completely new script and score-- There are all sorts of completely un-updateable situations that you'd need to rework: Conrad getting drafted is of course the first of these.

Incidentally I directed it for a school a while back and did have the kids sing "Dave Letterman" in place of Ed Sullivan to give them some idea of Sullivan's cultural impact.