"Bye Bye Birdie" a hilarious take on kids, parents

Elvis Presley's 1957 draft notice sent him into the Army at the age of 23.

And that's the inspiration for "Bye Bye Birdie," the 1960 Broadway musical that tells the story of a rock 'n' roll singer's last public appearance before going into the service.

And if anyone doubts the fervor of the time, take note: Elvis' induction in 1958, dropping his salary from six figures to two, engendered such fan outrage that it even caught the attention of the White House. Elvis managed a short-term deferment to finish "King Creole" before reporting to his base in Arkansas, going on to basic training in Texas.

In "Bye Bye Birdie," Conrad Birdie's departure is no less shattering.

His "last kiss" to a local fan-club president has been neatly stage-managed by his New York agent, Albert, who even gets Ed Sullivan to do a live remote broadcast from Sweet Apple, Ohio, where townspeople go bonkers for the sexy superstar.

Dan Connor's Conrad Birdie is James Dean crossed with Elvis — with worse manners. Staying with a host family, the MacAfees, he comes down the steps for breakfast in boxers, robe and boots, chugs a beer, burps and goes back upstairs.

When jaded New Yorkers meet suburban Sweet Apple, the chaos is hilarious. Rosie, Albert's assistant and would-be wife, crashes a Shriner meeting in a wickedly mischievous dance number. And Albert's possessive, fur-coat wearing mother, May, feigns heart attacks, faints dead away, insults her would-be rival Rosie and is given to guilt-inducing statements.

"Three days and three nights on a Trailways bus, but what's the difference?" May asks her son. "I'm only a mother, and for a mother, a Trailways bus is good enough."

Village Theatre transfers the musical from Issaquah to the Everett Performing Arts Center for a run of the show that will open at 8 p.m. Friday and continue through Jan. 21.

The multi-generational show has been drawing a multi-generational audience.

The cast of 29 includes the MacAfees: kid brother Randolph, (played by the gifted Morgan McFalls), teenager Kim (Cara Rudd) and the kids' middle-age parents, Harry and Doris, played by John X. Deveney and Frances Leah King.

With Charles Strouse-Lee Adams songs like "Put on a Happy Face," "Got a Lot of Livin' to Do" and "Kids," it's tuneful and fun, while underscoring the great divide between parents and teens.

"The younger kid doesn't understand the teenagers, the adults in the show don't understand the teenagers. And everyone is misunderstood," said Laura Kenny, who plays May.

"That's what makes a play and a musical live on for 50 years," said Steve Tomkins, director and choreographer. "Every generation goes through the same thing. It's really about kids and parents."

"One of the things that really appealed to me in doing the show is that it was a show so much out of the '60s," Tomkins added. "It does a gentle, farcical nudge at the mores of suburbia. At that time, the suburbs were exploding and the ideal family was given to us by television — 'Ozzie and Harriet,' 'Leave It to Beaver,' 'Donna Reed.' All those shows promoted the perfect family unit. And none of us could live up to that."

True to '60s teendom, there's a telephone in nearly every scene. And two numbers — "The Telephone Hour" and "Baby, Talk to Me" — are literally sung on the phone.

Robert A. Dahlstrom's set for "The Telephone Hour" is a giant grid — a solid three lanes of teens on telephones.

"That had to be a first — how many times in musical history has a character sung on a phone?" said Tomkins.

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com