Bye Bye Birdie
1974 · Triopia High School gym (east end)
In 1974 Ken Bradbury directed Triopia High School in Bye Bye Birdie, the teen-idol musical comedy with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Lee Adams, and a book by Michael Stewart. The story follows rock star Conrad Birdie, who is drafted into the army, and the romance of the supporting couple swept up around him. Ken — newly hired as "a new kid with a full head of hair," brought in to take Dolly Tribbet's job — was the director throughout these early Triopia years; he did not write the show.
Cast
- Mike Post
- Bruce Surratt
- Jill Lovekamp
- Gary Surratt
- Janet Crawford
- Jerry Beard
- Pam Bridges — the romance
- Ron Fricke — the romance
- Chris Lovekamp
Production Notes
Bye Bye Birdie was the very first show staged at the new Triopia High School, set up on the east end of the gym. Carole Robertson — the former "Songbird of Pittsfield High School" — served as vocal director and pianist, a role she held through these early days until her retirement in 1994.
The run was not without its mishaps and its mischief. During one performance the farrowing-house lights started smoking half-way through Act II. The show's drafted-rock-star plot turned literal when Jerry Beard punched the actor playing Conrad Birdie in the nose onstage — and a bit too close one night. And Pam Bridges and Ron Fricke, who played the romance, were mooned offstage by Chris Lovekamp.
No song titles survive in the archive record, so the musical numbers are not listed here.