GDS’ spring musical, Bye Bye Birdie, opened the evening of Thursday, Apr. 17. The musical was written by Charles Strouse, Lee Adams and Michael Stewart, and GDS’ production is directed by János Szász. There was another performance Friday, Apr. 18, and there are three more performances, Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26.
The musical opened with an overture performed by music director Reenie Codelka’s pit orchestra. During the overture, scene-setting stock footage was projected on the wall behind the set.
The set included a wide upstage painted with a custom design based on the album cover of Elvis Presley’s single Il Re Del Rock’n’Roll modified to read Bye Bye Birdie. Il Re Del Rock’n’Roll was a physical release in Italy from 1957 and is not available on streaming platforms. A staircase to the downstage separated two wide, elevated, cylindrical pillars. Records hanging by strings over the stage were a nice touch. They caught and reflected light that passed over them.
“The designing of the set is almost fully up to just us, the designers, working with the director and the tech director,” set designer Alex Rohrbaugh said. “We just have to make sure that we get the themes and the vision across, as well as have a functional set for the actors to act on.” I found the design to be intuitive; my eyes were continuously drawn to one pillar, then to center stage, then to the opposite pillar, then back again.
“I take art classes, so it’s really fun to be able to work with the colors,” set designer Zoya Mghenyi said. “Shape language and which colors work well together are concepts the foundation classes really instill in you.”
The props department paid great attention to detail in their design choices. Every inch of the set was meticulously decorated with props that thoughtfully added to the storytelling. I especially enjoyed “The Telephone Hour,” a song whose choreography makes great use of telephone props, which are passed back and forth between cast members as they sing and dance.
Thursday night’s performance featured a cameo from Head of School Russell Shaw as TV host Ed Sullivan. The audience laughed and applauded delightfully at Shaw’s appearance. Shaw also acted in the Theater Lab’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee last school year. Shaw will retire at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, so this will be one of his last performances with the GDS theater department.
The cast’s vocal performances were wonderful as well. Actors shined in solo sections of songs, but my favorite parts were when the chorus’ voices swelled with the pit orchestra’s instruments and filled the Black Box with energy. Senior Sophia Ades’ voice especially stood out to me. Her vocals were powerful and energetic at some parts, and soft and gentle at others to match the tone of the scene.
The costumes were period-appropriate, which reflected each character’s personality well and further immersed me in the story. Costume changes were even integrated directly into the choreography by senior Ava Hall, who plays Kim McAfee, who changed dresses mid-song during “How Lovely to Be a Woman.”
The opening night performance suffered from some minor mishaps, but none took away from the experience. The crew dropped props during two scene changes, and Shaw’s first lines were inaudible due to a technical difficulty. Actors occasionally sang faster than the pit orchestra’s time but usually corrected themselves quickly.
The musical ended joyfully, bringing the story to a satisfying close. The cast gathered eagerly onstage for the curtain call as the audience burst into cheers and applause. Bye Bye Birdie was a rollercoaster of emotions—sweet at some moments, tense at others and sometimes utterly absurd. One of my favorite moments was when senior Henry Cohen, who played Mr. Harry MacAfee, delivered a furious lecture to his family, only to quickly change his mind about the issue and soften his demeanor.
I found Bye Bye Birdie to be a wonderful and memorable experience. I encourage anyone who can to go see the show on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.