Lee Adams and Charles Strouse wanted to write a teenager-themed musical with a little something "extra" to make it fun. After a couple of failed attempts, inspiration hit when Elvis Presley joined the Army in 1957. Before he took off for duty, he presented "one last kiss" to a member of the Women's Army Corps.
Voila! "Bye Bye Birdie" was born.
Frustrated songwriter Albert and his equally frustrated perma-girlfriend Rosie are stuck in a rut when rock star Conrad Birdie is drafted. In a last-ditch attempt to save his songwriting career, Albert and Rosie come up with a brilliant PR stunt: "one last kiss" from a fan before he's shipped off.
That lucky fan is 15-year old Kim MacAfee of Sweet Apple, Ohio. Kim is thrilled! Her boyfriend, Hugo, is not.
Trivia:
Originally, the show's rock star was named "Conway Twitty" - apparently no one on the production team had heard of him - until the real Conway Twitty threatened to sue.
Tony Awards (1961):
Best Musical
Best Performance from a Featured Actor in a Musical (Dick Van Dyke as Albert)
Best Direction of a Musical (Gower Champion)
Best Choreography (Gower Champion)
Biggest Hits:
Put on a Happy Face
Kids
Problematic Alert/It Was the Times:
Spanish Rose (LOTS of tortilla jokes, but in context - it's sung by an American person of Latin-American origin sick of being stereotyped)
Musical Numbers:
- Overture
- An English Teacher
- The Telephone Hour
- How Lovely to Be a Woman
- One Boy
- Honestly Sincere
- Hymn for a Sunday Evening
- One Last Kiss
- What Did I Ever See in Him?
- A Lot of Livin' to Do
- Kids
- Baby, Talk to Me
- Spanish Rose
- Kids (Reprise)
- Rosie
