Bye Bye Birdie Full of Young Talent

Roger Kuna wasn’t around in the 1950s.

In fact, neither were most of the 16-year-old's cast mates in Town and Country’s family theater production of Bye Bye Birdie. But that didn’t stop Kuna and the chorus of teens from donning bowling shirts and poodle skirts for the musical which opened recently.

“More than half of the cast members have been connected with T&C in some way,” said director Nancy Ridgeway, mentioning T&C’s summer theater workshop. “A lot of them grew up here, and they’ve really become the core of the theater.”

Bye Bye Birdie follows fictional ‘50s rock ’n roll sensation Conrad Birdie (Patrick Brown) and a nation of obsessive screaming fans.

When the Elvis-esque Birdie gets drafted into the army, his agent Albert Peterson (John Neuman) and Peterson’s love interest, Rose Alvarez (Jessica Laynor), plan a publicity stunt to have Birdie give a farewell kiss to a fan chosen at random.

Birdie’s boisterous arrival in tiny Sweet Apple, Ohio, sends the town – and lucky 15-year-old Kim MacAfee (Dana-Joy Carducci) – into hysterics.

Ridgeway’s production is refreshingly young and lighthearted. The song lyrics (“wired with braces from ear to ear…”) reflect the chorus of cast members, who are teenagers themselves.

“I like doing age-appropriate,” said Ridgeway, who cast the squeaky-voiced pubescent Harvey Johnson (Pavel Rozman), the gangly and forlorn Hugo Peabody (Jimmy McInnis) and the screaming, obsessive, self-proclaimed “jungle beast” Ursula Merkle (Kallie Cooper) from a large audition pool of eager teens.

Although the lead role of Albert Peterson is cast younger than in other productions, Neuman fits the nervous, “mama’s boy” character, held captive by the hilariously blunt and mildly suicidal Mae Peterson (Valerie Sharper) – “And by the way, dear, when you get back be sure to stop in the kitchen and take my head out of the oven and turn off the gas…”

Even the show’s live band is age-appropriate. Breathing life into the score is a collection of high school and college musicians led by Joe Nappi.

Ridgeway’s production, which boasts Broadway favorites like “Telephone Hour” and “Put on a Happy Face,” is a modern take on a classic. Ridgeway and choreographer Justin Derry expertly incorporate dances reminiscent of the 1995 TV version of Bye Bye Birdie that young audience members grew up watching.

The production team makes use of technology by showing an original film of Birdie arriving at a concert and by projecting a live black and white feed of the hilariously chaotic Act I finale featuring Harry MacAfee (Peter Plante) and family, which takes place on set of the Ed Sullivan show.

During the creatively-staged “Hundred Way Ballet,” Alvarez fantasizes about how she could kill Peterson. Reminiscent of a game of Clue, the characters, dressed in black with labels “poison,” “lead pipe,” and “rope,” torment Peterson. Just when he’s sure he’s fended them all off, a petite acrobat labeled “bomb” flips his way onto stage and explosively into the arms of Peterson to end the scene.

The boy behind the bomb is 12-year-old Daneal Rozman, a lifelong gymnast and former T&C camper. He is joined by his older brother Pavel, who plays Harvey Johnson, and mother Kim O’Byrne-Rozman, who plays Doris MacAfee.

Ridgeway said families have always been welcome both on and off the stage at T&C, which is evident in the effortless and genuine nature of the actors in the play.

“This is home,” said 19-year-old Vince Ruggieri, a member of the chorus and veritable veteran of the T&C stage. “I just keep coming back for more.”

Bye Bye Birdie runs July 15, 16, 17, 22 and 23.

Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees are at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults and $10 for children and can be purchased on brownpapertickets.com.