“When I sing about a tree, I really feel that tree!”
Hugo just asked you to go steady, and now the whole school knows. Your phone is ringing off the hook. But what’s this? A phone call that your heartthrob Conrad Birdie is going to kiss you on The Ed Sullivan Show before he joins the army! You must be the luckiest girl in Sweet Apple. But now Hugo is acting jealous despite your best efforts to pacify him by telling him you’re not attracted to the rock star (wink, wink). Just to show him you’ve got a lot of livin’ to do, you go cut a rug with Birdie. After all, you’re Kim MacAfee, and it’s lovely to be a woman, isn’t it?
I performed in “Bye Bye Birdie” TWICE when I was in high school. In one staging I played an adult who disapproved of Conrad Birdie’s influence on the Sweet Apple teens. In the other I was one of the teen fanatics who fainted when Birdie swung his hips her direction. Yes, I was a versatile actress indeed! Although the movie is far inferior to the stage version (it completely alters the story structure and character focal point), I still have a soft spot for it. It has so many vibrant colors, and its bubbly innocence is infectious. Witness Ann-Margret wearing a painfully tight belt while belting out the title song:
