'Bye, Bye Birdie' flies at Huntley High School

The students at Huntley High School are getting ready to shake up the town this weekend with their production of "Bye, Bye Birdie."

Director Nancy Strauss thinks the cast and audience will be able to relate well to the musical.

"It's a show that's kind of appealing to young people," said Strauss. "It's about young people and a lot of the difficulties the students in the show face can be paralleled to what our students face."

For cast members, the play can be a challenge, but it's also something rewarding.

"It gets frustrating during rehearsals, but the finished product is well-worth it," said senior Kelsey Rosenorn, who plays Rosie Alvarez.

"I know a lot of people feel the way I do about performing. It's like how runners get runner's high. Once you're out in front of the audience, you get an adrenaline rush."

And the show that the cast and crew have put together this year is one that they feel proud to show off.

"I don't think (audiences) will be disappointed," said Rosenorn. "(The show is) really coming along."

"Bye, Bye Birdie" brings audiences back to 1958 to tell the tale of popular, hip-swinging singer Conrad Birdie, who gets drafted into the army. As a last-ditch effort to help his career, his agent Albert Peterson and Albert's secretary, Rosie Alvarez, help arrange for Birdie to sing a final song, titled "One Last Kiss," and give a lucky fan one last kiss at the end. The randomly chosen fan turns out to be a teen named Kim MacAfee from a small town in Ohio.

But when Birdie travels to MacAfee's town to debut his special song, he brings trouble wherever he goes. With all the controversy in his personal and public life, what will happen to the singer, his agent and his small-town fans?

The musical first opened on Broadway in 1960 and closed after 607 performances. The Tony-award-winning musical has seen successful revivals on the stage and on-screen. It was made into a movie in 1963 starring Dick Van Dyke and again in 1995 as a TV-movie with Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams. The play has also become a high school musical favorite.

Thanks to the musical's relatable themes and ideas for youth, connecting to roles is easy for the student actors.

"She's very innocent and naive," said senior Lauren Jones, who plays Kim MacAfee, "and I like being able to play someone like me. She's kind of dorky and ditsy. But she's a stereotypical teen and I really like that about her."

For the cast and crew, performing the finished product and showing the audience their best work is one of the most exciting parts of the show.

"This is a very positive experience for us," said Strauss. "We get together as a team and put together a show with an awful lot of work and by the end there's a lot of positive results."

The actors share the sentiment, and hope to channel their love of the theater and their dedication into every performance.

"Especially if (the audience) is coming from the community around here, I think they're going to enjoy seeing their teens onstage," said Jones. "We're having fun and they should be very proud about seeing their kids do something they love to do."

If you go

What: Huntley High School's production of "Bye, Bye Birdie"

When: 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, April 16, 17, 23 and 24; 3 p.m. Sundays, April 18 and 25

Where: Huntley High School, 13719 Harmony Road, Huntley

Tickets: $8, $6 for students and senior citizens

Call: (847) 659-6515

'Bye, Bye Birdie' cast

Brandon Albright, Christian Aldridge, Madie Bartot, Jazmine Chartrand, Brittni Chung, Melissa Dahl, Tyler Darnell, D.J. Davis, Sierra Davis, Katherine Enciso, Adrian Fait, Joseph George, Abby Gleason, Brian Goldfarb, Sarah Greene, Lauren Jones, Sammy Kaster, Ashley Knipp, Dylan Ladd, Andrea Leiras, Sara Ann Lewis, Taylor Little, Zoar López, Randy Magdangal, Marta Makowski, Joshua McKenney, Alex Morton, Meghan Murray, Chelsea Niles, Jessi Owensby, Gianna Pavone, Allie Plansky, Zach Polentini, Shaunna Proper, Sean Ramsaier, Andrew Rewerts, Patricia Riccardi, Kelsey Rosenorn, Jennifer Samson, Maria Sciortino, Cody Schwartz, Lindsay Spence, Olivia Stepp, Hunter Stewart, Jade Strong, Tiffany Tanski, Spencer Trippi, Bobby Volpendesta, Maddie Warner, Melissa Williams, Austin Wise, Amanda Wolch, Nick Ybarra, Amber Yedinak