Good evening and welcome to SCMT’s annual summer musical. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support over the last 13 years.
Bye Bye Birdie was one of those musical movies that I grew up watching. I still remember Ann-Margaret singing “Bye Bye Birdie” with the wind blowing through her hair. I remember Paul Lynde singing “Kids” and Maureen Stapleton (Mae Peterson) sticking her head in the oven! “We Love You Conrad”, “The Telephone Hour” and “Put on a Happy Face" have been in my repertoire of music for over 20 years (thanks, mom!). But it wasn’t until this year that Birdie was ready to come to the SCMT stage.
For the past 2 months, I’ve watched 20 individuals from different parts of Staten Island, different schools, different ages, and different backgrounds come together and grow as a cast and as a community. They are talented, dedicated and they worked hard on and off the stage. They practiced scene changes over and over, they ran the tap dance a hundred times and sang “We love you, Conrad” five thousand two hundred and seventy-six times.
But my favorite moments were when something unintentional happened in a scene and we all laughed or when we were on a break and everyone was playing a silly game (quack- a- dilly -oso is a cast favorite!). Because those are the moments when the magic happens; when 20 individuals become one. And that friendship, that comradery, transfers over to the stage. “Musical theatre is a synthesis of people and art forms that are interwoven and blended together.” (Young) It’s been incredible watching this cast develop their characters, their creativity and most of all their friendships.
Now sit back, relax and join us as we travel back in time to the late 1950s when girls are going crazy for the hip shaking rock star Conrad Birdie. Conrad Birdie! Conrad Birdie!!!!!! (Cue tons of screaming and fainting teenagers.)
With lots of love and a happy face,
Marissa
