THROWBACK THURSDAY: As previously announced, NBC is set for it’s 5th annual live televised musical next year the classic Broadway hit Bye Bye Birdie. In honor of the anticipation, here is a montage from the most recent 2009 Broadway revival.
BYE BYE BIRDIE is a musical written by Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, and Michael Stewart. It’s loosely based on Elvis Presley’s 1957 draft into the Army. It features some of the most beloved songs including PUT ON A HAPPY FACE, HONESTLY SINCERE, KIDS, LOT OF LIVIN’ TO DO, and more.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 1961 starring Dick Van Dyke, Chita Rivera, Paul Lynde, Dick Gautier, and Susan Watson . It played Broadway’s Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld Theatre), then transferred 54th Street Theatre (the no longer existing Adelphi Theatre), and ending at the Shubert Theatre after 607 performances. It received 8 Tony Awards nominations winning 4 including Best Musical and Best Leading Actor (for Dick Van Dyke).
The most recent Broadway revival of the musical (as seen in this video) came from Roundabout Theatre Company in 2009 starring John Stamos, Gina Gershon, Bill Irwin, Nolan Gerard Funk, and Allie Trimm. It played the Henry Miller’s Theatre (now the Stephen Sondheim Theatre) for a limited run 157 performances.
There have already been 2 film versions of the musicals. The first came the iconic 1963 film version starring Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynde (reprising their Broadway roles) along with Janet Leigh, Jesse Pearson, and Ann-Margret (which launched her career to stardom). The film version included the opening and closing title song (which was written for the film). The most recent version was a TV movie in 1995 for ABC7 which starred Jason Alexander, Vanessa Williams, Tyne Daly, George Wendt, Marc Kudisch, and Chynna Phillips.
Now, we have the upcoming 2nd remake coming up of the musical led my Jennifer Lopez JLo. It will be happening December 2017.
Who is excited?!!
#ByeByeBirdieLive #WeLoveYouConrad
Check out video clips of Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Bye Bye Birdie! To discover more, visit us at: http://www.roundabouttheatre.org Connect w…
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