Friday, October 16, 2009
Elvis Spoof ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ Is Back With a Bang
Bloomberg.com: "Still fresh at nearly 50, the 1960 musical “Bye Bye Birdie” rebounds on Broadway remarkably well as a takeoff on Elvis, rock and roll, and high-school hijinks, a triumph of lovable silliness. It also spoofs the shenanigans of show-business."
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5 comments:
Why this musical? why now? i still don't understand why they wanted to re do bye bye birdie. Reading this review makes me want to see it even less, except for the comment about the sets and lighting. It sounds as if they haven't done much to reinvent it, so why put if up at all?
I could not agree more. It seems to me like they have not thought about the audience of today at all. I understand keeping the integrity of a piece but simply putting this show on now has no relevance to what is going on in the world. They review makes it sound as if they actors and director are hardly trying and that they are just counting on a fans to support the show. I just find it so sad because I know that there are plenty of struggling writers out there with good ideas. But nobody wants to take a chance anymore. All they want to take something that has already worked as a movie or that as already been successful on stage and redo it. The people who have the power in this business our slowly killing it by not opening up. This has to change soon or there will be no such thing as new musicals. People will be so discouraged that the pool or writers will disappear.
I would have to disagree in part with Sylvianne and Molly. While it's probably true that they could have done more to reboot this play instead of just doing what everyone expects, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to keep things as a reminder of how they were. There's a reason that Phantom has been on Broadway for such a long time, general audiences clearly enjoy it. I am not saying that Broadway should only be revivals, but as a business, it will probably be best if there are some familiar options available, such as Bye Bye Birdie.
If we keep asking ourselves "why this, why now" - I think our heads will explode. It's not like we're creating a 'theater puzzle' in which all of the shows need to open at the exact right and appropriate moment. We must remember that theater is as much ENTERTAINMENT as it is political or social commentary. "Bye Bye Birdie" is to me as valid to the nation as it was fifty years ago. It features themes of growing up, war taking the things we care about away from us, and small-town racism.
HOWEVER. With these themes, what did the director and designers do? Did they use the book and music as a valentine to these themes? Absolutaly not, and that, I feel, is why the production failed.
Thanks to Ben Brantly (however seldom I like to say that) and other smart reviewers, they have caught the BroadwayDisneyCoprateClusterfuck in its act and actually reviewed an overly extravagant production as it should have been.
Kudos.
I agree wholeheartedly with Josh. We forget that, while this industry at its commercial level has its artistic side, it's really more on the lines of entertainment. Birdie is a well known name, had well known actors in the original, the songs are well known, there was no reason that it should have failed.
Except, it kinda did...
Birdie is a very relevant piece, too, which is what makes me sad that the show hasn't been reviewed so well. Love, family, the various threats on the country...etc. The show is GOOD and is relevant. It's just a shame that the creative team seemed to drop the bomb on this one by trying to play it safe and make a "marketable" production instead of focusing on how audiences today could really appreciate it.
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