Bye Bye, Birdie: Original Television Cast Recording (1995)
My Connection and Why This Recording I might as well start with the first show I ever got to perform in. I made my musical theatre debut in the ensemble of Bye Bye Birdie at Crestwood-Kirkwood Youth Theatre back in 2001. It seemed like the logical next step since I was the only male in my school choir at the time. One very frightened thirteen year old went into that audition room, and it has been downhill ever since. That being said, I absolutely adore this show. I was raised on all of the classic movie musicals of the mid-century, and Bye Bye Birdie was one of the bests. That original film was brilliant, with Dick van Dyke and Paul Lynde recreating their stage roles with relative newcomer Ann-Margret, Janet Leigh, Maureen Stapleton, and teen heartthrob Bobby Rydell. Then I am cast in the show, and I am confronted by an irrefutable fact: the original movie deviates far too much from the original source material. Several songs are lost, and plotlines have been re-evaluated. So
