Broadway Revisited
(02/2/10); 10-06 ; February 6, 2010

Back on Broadway after fifty years.

Gypsy overture-- 1; fades under)

Hi, this is Art Hilgart and this is Broadway Revisited, a weekly exploration of the songs and shows, composers and lyricists, and performers who created the American musical theater.

(Music up, then fade)

Back in 1958, Elvis Presley was drafted, and that gave Ed Padula, a Broadway stage manager who wanted to be a producer, an idea for a Broadway musical, and he recruited composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Lee Adams. They brought in book writer Michael Stewart. None of the three had ever written for Broadway. The director-choreographer they selected was Gower Champion, who had never directed a book musical. For the male lead, they had Dick Van Dyke, who'd never been in a musical-- and before he had his television series and movie career. The only important veterans were dancer Chita Rivera, who'd been in West Side Story, and comic Paul Lynde, who was in New Faces of 1952.

Bye Bye Birdie opened as a hit in April 1960, and it won the Tony for Best Musical. Dick Van Dyke also won one, and Gower Champion won two, for directing and for choreography.

Here's the overture.

1. Overture (Columbia) 2:39

The plot involves Albert, the Van Dyke character who is the manager-songwriter of the Elvis character, named Conrad Birdie, Albert's fiancee Rosie, who wishes he had become an English teacher, and Birdie's teen fans in a small Ohio town. The teens get the opening song. They are all on the phone-- this is long before email, Facebook, and Twitter. Then we'll hear Chita Rivera as Rosie.

2. The Telephone Hour / An English Teacher (Columbia) 5:50

Albert concocts a stunt in which Birdie will bestow a kiss on a member of his fan club, and the lucky girl lives in Sweet Apple, Ohio.

3. How Lovely To Be a Woman / Put on a Happy Face (Columbia) 5:46

Susan Watson played Kim, the lucky winner. Then we heard Albert, who has arrived in Sweet Apple, consoling a girl crying about Birdie's draft status.

The national media swarm on the town, and in this number Albert and Rosie answer the questions of two groups of reporters. Then Conrad, played by Dick Gautier, appears, validating what the reporters have been told.

4. A Normal, Healthy, American Boy / Honestly Sincere (Columbia) 7:14

Kim has a steady boy friend, who is worried about Birdie. Rosie and Kim reassure him.

5. One Boy (Columbia) 2:46

In 1960, the Ed Sullivan variety show was the number one television program, and Albert arranges to have the show originate in Sweet Water. The effect on Kim's father, played by Paul Lynde, matches the teenagers' response to Birdie. Then we hear Birdie on the Sullivan show.

6. Hymn for a Sunday Evening / One Last Kiss (Columbia) 3:33

At the end of the song and at the end of Act One, Kim's boyfriend knocks Birdie down before Kim can get her kiss. And that's Act One of Bye Bye Birdie

Here's an intermission feature: Elvis Presley's uncredited version of a song composed and recorded by Sidney Bechet.

7. Heartbreak Hotel (Victor) 2:08

Songwriters Adams and Strouse called the show's rocker Conrad Birdie, after the Elvis wannabe, Conway Twitty. They first offered the part to Elvis. He was interested, but his manager, Colonel Parker wouldn't let him take it, and Dick Gautier played Birdie.

As Act Two begins, Rosie and Kim have broken up with their boyfriends, Kim goes out on the town with Birdie, and her father fumes.

8. What Did I Ever See in Him? 1:55 / Kids 1:30 / Kids Reprise 1:09 (Columbia) 4:30

Conrad announces his plans for his last day as a civilian.

9. A Lot of Livin' to Do (Columbia) 2:53

It may just be a coincidence, but three years before Bye Bye Birdie, Elvis sang this song in the movie Loving You.

10. Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do! (Victor) 2:31

Meanwhile, Albert calls Rose to bring her back. One reason they haven't married is that Albert's crazy mother is against it because she thinks Rose is Spanish. Rose sings a defiant response.

11. Baby, Talk to Me 2:48 / Spanish Rose (Columbia) 3:22 6:08

Albert tells his mother off, and he and Rosie leave for Pumpkin Falls, Iowa, where he has taken a job teaching junior high.

12. Rosie (Columbia) 3:34

And that was the happy ending of the 1960 hit, Bye Bye Birdie, words and music by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams. From the original cast, we heard Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, Paul Lynde, and as Birdie, Dick Gautier.

For the 1963 movie version, the director wanted a title song, Adams and Strouse wrote one, and Ann-Margret, who played Kim, sang it.

13. Bye Bye Birdie (Columbia Pictures) 1:16

Rather than end our hour with that, here's Dick Van Dyke to reprise the show's hit song.

14. Put on a Happy Face (Columbia) 1:34

(Gypsy overture-- 2; to end)

Join us again next week for another Broadway Revisited. National distribution is funded by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and it's produced with our engineer, Martin Klemm, in the WMUK studios of Western Michigan University. Our website with playlists, program schedules, and stuff is broadwayrevisited.com, and our e-mail address is Art@broadwayrevisited.com. And I'm Art Hilgart.

Total music: 52:23; Estimated talking: 5:35; Intro/outro: :30; Estimated total: 58:28.

Promo (15): "Bye Bye Birdie", was a hit fifty years ago, and it's one of this season's Broadway revivals. Hear the original cast this week, on Broadway Revisited.

Return to Broadway Revisited main page