Act 1. Overture - Original Cast Recording, Strouse, Charles
Act 1. An English Teacher
Act 1. The Telephone Hour
Act 1. How Lovely to Be a Woman
Act 1. Put on a Happy Face
Act 1. A Healthy, Normal, American Boy
Act 1. One Boy
Act 1. Honestly Sincere
Act 1. Hymn for a Sunday Evening (Ed Sullivan)
Act 1. One Last Kiss
Act 2. What Did I Ever See in Him?
Act 2. A Lot of Livin' to Do
Act 2. Kids
Act 2. Baby, Talk to Me
Act 2. Kids (Reprise)
Act 2. Spanish Rose
Act 2. Rosie
Put on a Happy Face
A lighthearted romp reflecting the Elvis revolution, Bye Bye Birdie follows Albert Peterson (a pre-Mary Poppins Dick Van Dyke), the manager of rock & roller Conrad Birdie (Dick Gautier), who is sweeping throug... more »h the town of Sweet Apple on a publicity stunt surrounding his being drafted into the Army. Meanwhile, Albert's faithful but exasperated secretary (Chita Rivera) hopes he will give up show business to settle down with her and become a respectable English teacher. In Charles Strouse and Lee Adams's energetic and tuneful score, Van Dyke sings the standard "Put On a Happy Face," the high schoolers are high schoolers ("A Lot of Livin' to Do," "The Telephone Hour," "One Boy") and bewilder their parents ("Kids"), Gautier thrusts his hips ("Honestly Sincere," "One Last Kiss"), and homage is paid to that icon of home entertainment, Ed Sullivan ("Hymn for a Sunday Evening"). Bye Bye Birdie won the 1961 Tony for Best Musical, and Van Dyke reprised his role in the 1963 film version. The 2000 remastering features outstanding clarity as well as a bonus track of Strouse himself introducing and singing "Put On a Happy Face" at a Smithsonian lecture in 1978. --David Horiuchi« less
A lighthearted romp reflecting the Elvis revolution, Bye Bye Birdie follows Albert Peterson (a pre-Mary Poppins Dick Van Dyke), the manager of rock & roller Conrad Birdie (Dick Gautier), who is sweeping through the town of Sweet Apple on a publicity stunt surrounding his being drafted into the Army. Meanwhile, Albert's faithful but exasperated secretary (Chita Rivera) hopes he will give up show business to settle down with her and become a respectable English teacher. In Charles Strouse and Lee Adams's energetic and tuneful score, Van Dyke sings the standard "Put On a Happy Face," the high schoolers are high schoolers ("A Lot of Livin' to Do," "The Telephone Hour," "One Boy") and bewilder their parents ("Kids"), Gautier thrusts his hips ("Honestly Sincere," "One Last Kiss"), and homage is paid to that icon of home entertainment, Ed Sullivan ("Hymn for a Sunday Evening"). Bye Bye Birdie won the 1961 Tony for Best Musical, and Van Dyke reprised his role in the 1963 film version. The 2000 remastering features outstanding clarity as well as a bonus track of Strouse himself introducing and singing "Put On a Happy Face" at a Smithsonian lecture in 1978. --David Horiuchi
"Bye Bye Birdie (1960 Original Broadway Cast) Many of the classic Broadway musicals of mid-20th century are available as both movie soundtracks and as Broadway cast albums. Though all are enjoyable, the cast albums sound more natural, more enthusiastic, and more spontaneous than the (later) movie soundtracks. Probably that is because the cast albums were recorded shortly after the show opened on Broadway. The original cast album of "Bye Bye Birdie" is in this category. And there is more background about the musical. The excellent and lengthy liner notes recount the story of how the musical was written and developed into the evergreen musical that it became."
It's not the best--but buy it anyway!
M. Ellison | Paradise, CA | 03/31/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Because of the nature of the musical, there is something not as good about it being done by professionals. I'm sure that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. You will not see, or hear "Bye Bye Birdie" done better than by pimply awkward teenagers at your local high school who can just barely stay on key. Seriously. The charm of this musical is you don't have to be GREAT to be in it. With that said, I still recommend this album. It's fun. Not as great as some other musicals (I recommend "Cinderella," "The Fantasticks," "Guys and Dolls," or "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown"), but a good deal better than others (okay, I'll spare you a list of the ones I hate)."