Bye-Bye Birdie Play Analysis

Bye Bye Birdie: A play Critique
March 24, 2016 I attended the play “Bye Bye Birdie” a musical comedy taken from a book written by Michael Steward, lyrics by lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse. The manatee players, directed and choreographed by Cory Boyas held the performance at the Manatee preforming arts center. This was a local production; curtain time was seven thirty pm, and the cost of tickets was Thirteen dollars for students. The play had two acts each an hour and five minutes long with a fifteen-minute intermission. The goal of the play was to leave an impression on the audience about important life lessons. First lesson being you can try another form of employment, but it is not always the best fit for you. The second lesson was
In this play costumes provided you with the personalities of the character and age group, setting a back to the fifties mood. Teen girls were dressed in full skirts with lots of petticoats, to make the skirts stand out when dancing. Sweater sets and blouses were worn along with pedal pushers and sneakers for footwear. The male teens and dancers wore tracers with plaid and madras shirts, some wore colorful suspenders and converse shoes. The adult females wore period dresses with high heels for footwear. The adult males wore button down shirts with ties, sport coats, suits and wingtip shoes. Conrad Birdies costume was fashioned of that era which would be known as bad boy clothes a term that is used today. It consisted of a black leather zipped jacket, dungaree pants and black leather boots for footwear. The costume he used for the performance was a gold lamem decorated jumpsuit. All the costumes added to the success of the play, they radiated the professionalism and enhanced the storyline. The set design was very effective the beginning set was cubicals with teens in each cubical speaking on the phone. A spotlight would follow each speaker as they sang. Great opening, and it set the mood for the rest of the play. The largest set was a painted design of a train station used as a background for the other sets. Minor sets were on rollers to switch out scenes and Ariel sets were used. The sets were very lifelike and fit the scene; they were very simple and cost effective. This set design achieved its goal. The creativity surpassed a local production and added to the play. The actors changed the sets; this kept up the flow of the play with no delays and made it very