Don't bring back "Bring Back Birdie"
Legendary sequel bombed in 1981
Shalom!
This week, The Broadway Maven looks at Bye Bye Birdie.
• On Sunday, January 8 at Noon ET and Monday, January 9 at Noon and 7 pm ET we’ll have a FREE class exploring that Elvis-era satire. Register here.
• This Weekly Blast includes:
A) an ESSAY about the flop sequel to Bye Bye Birdie called Bring Back Birdie;
B) a Broadway Maven YouTube GEM introducing nine of Sondheim’s most prominent shows;
C) a REVIEW of the Museum of Broadway;
D) a Video QUIZ about “the moral of the story” of Broadway shows;
E) a SURVEY about musicals set in high schools; and
F) LAST BLASTs about A Chorus Line and West Side Story.
Sequels on Broadway are extremely rare. One of the more prominent ones was 1981’s massive flop Bring Back Birdie, widely considered the worst musical ever by people you’ve heard of. That team, of course, was the same as that for 1960’s Bye Bye Birdie: music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Lee Adams, and book by Michael Stewart.
The sequel’s score is structured in parallel fashion to the original property. So, for example, instead of a song about kids there’s a song about grown-ups; and instead of “Put on a Happy Face,” there’s “Baby, You Can Count on Me.”
It wasn’t a wise move, because it invites song-by-song comparisons between the shows… and the sequel comes up short every time.
The show’s details are updated for the 1980s; the Elvis act has been replaced by a punk rock band, and the 16-year-old daughter of lead couple the Petersons isn’t singing about “going steady.”
She wants to move in with her boyfriend.
In the world of television, a show is said to have “jumped the shark” when it turns to outlandish plots and gimmicks that mean its best days are behind it. Well, Bring Back Birdie repeatedly shows how that franchise has jumped the shark: a cowboy saloon, an Eastern cult, and a presidential candidacy round out some of the more outlandish details of the show.
Bring Back Birdie was a spectacular failure. Audiences were known to boo loudly, and reviews were scathing. It ran for 13 previews and only four performances, one of the fastest closures in Broadway history.
One bright spot: Chita Rivera got a Tony nomination for Best Actress.
But of course she did.
YouTube GEM: In preparation for the three-hour Introductory Sondheim boot camp on January 22 (or just for fun), watch this video with an overview of nine prominent Sondheim shows - plot, music, lyrics.
REVIEW: I got to visit the Museum of Broadway on my recent trip to New York, and thoroughly enjoyed it. A celebration of the history and practice of the art form of musical theater, it’s filled with enough compelling exhibits (more than 1,000 objects and photographs) to fill an afternoon for a Broadway lover. I could spend only 90 minutes there, and I definitely want to go back.
There’s a room I found strangely intriguing whose walls are lined with Playbills of all the shows currently running on Broadway. During an extended walking tour of the history of Broadway musicals, appropriate music plays in the background, with radically different setting styles to each room (in the Oklahoma! room, for example, the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye). A highlight: in the Sondheim room, there’s an anagram game about his show titles that would have delighted the puzzle-loving composer-lyricist.
Two cautions: the video monitors with interviews of Broadway figures looked intriguing but were sometimes near-impossible to hear over music and other noise. Because of that and the needs of hearing-impaired museum visitors, they ought to implement captions.
Second, the Museum of Broadway is expensive. There’s been a lot of grumbling online that the museum is a for-profit institution charging $39 to $49 per ticket.
But if that’s not an obstacle, you should go.
VIDEO QUIZ: “And the moral of the story is…”
Here are 25 “lessons learned” from 25 Broadway shows (written with what certainly appears to be insight by ChatGPT). Can you pick the right show among four choices for every “moral”?
Bye Bye Birdie was a 1960s musical fantasy about a teen heartthrob who has been drafted and the millions of devoted teenage girls devastated by his joining the army — and the one girl who gets to give him "One Last Kiss" before he goes!
How can a Broadway show about a rock musician NOT be a rock musical? (Birdie isn't.) Why does this show feel dated to some but timeless to others?
We'll discuss questions like that, and as always music educator Mateo Chavez Lewis will be at hand with his piano to explain and illustrate the score.
Our FREE Bye Bye Birdie class meets this Sunday, January 8 at Noon ET; and Monday, January 9 at Noon and 7 pm ET.
ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to register. Just show up.
For your Bye Bye Birdie homework, watch the video below about the Broadway hunks Conrad Birdie (Bye Bye Birdie) and Link Larkin (Hairspray). Which is the greater heartthrob? Explain your answer in the comments.
Note: links to register for ALL classes are ALWAYS available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.
• Sunday, January 8 Bye Bye Birdie (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, January 9 Bye Bye Birdie (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Tuesday, January 10 Watch Party: The Producers (7 pm ET, ALL-ACCESS Only)
• Sunday, January 15 Broadway’s singer-songwriters (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, January 16 Broadway’s singer-songwriters (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Tuesday, January 17 Guest Speaker: Ken Davenport (Noon ET, ALL-ACCESS Only)
• Sunday, January 22 Mel Brooks musicals (Noon ET, FREE)
• Sunday, January 22 Introductory Sondheim Boot Camp (1:30 pm to 4:30 pm ET, $12, registration opens soon)
• Monday, January 23 Mel Brooks musicals (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Tuesday, January 24 The Little Mermaid (Noon ET, $5, registration opens soon)
Note: Students may attend up to 12 FREE classes a year. After that it’s $5 a class.
Reminder: ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to sign up or pay for anything. Just show up!
LAST BLAST: In the famous opening number of A Chorus Line, "God I Hope I Get It," Zack, the choreographer, counts in the dance break like this: "5, 6, 7, 8!" Well, the dance break is actually in the time signature 6/4, which means it has 6 beats per measure of music, instead of 4. So, technically, it should be counted in "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!" But I guess, Zack is a dancer, not a musician, so it's true to his character that he makes this mistake. (Mateo Chavez Lewis)
LAST BLAST: Why did the creators of West Side Story give their Juliet character the name Maria? After all, Julieta is a Spanish name. Well, at the end of the show Maria cradles the dying Tony in her arms just like in the Pietà — the classic Western art pose in which the Virgin Mary (Maria) cradles the body of the deceased Jesus.
The Broadway Maven, David Benkof, helps students further their appreciation of musical theater through his classes, his YouTube Channel, and his Weekly Blast. Contact him at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.