PCA Presents BYE BYE BIRDIE, Now thru 7/20

PCA presents Bye Bye Birdie.Directed by Jon Meyer, Musical Director Chris Tenney, and Choreography by Amanda Woolsey. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth. Performances are today, July 17, 18, & 19 at 7:30 PM and July 19 & 20, 2013 at 2:00 PM.

Originally produced in 1960, it stared Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera. Van Dyke won a Tony award for his performance and then went on to national fame as the star of the Dick Van Dyke show, created by Carl Reiner.

Elvis Presley was the king of music, rock 'n roll, movies and most entertainment at that time in history. Then he got drafted, and Birdie is a spoof on that event (loosely based) and a sopoof in general about rock 'n roll, which, at that time in history, was not as big as it became when the Beatles came to America in 1964.

The character of Birdie is, of course, based on Elvis. Albert (Van Dyke) is his agent and sometime songwriter. He's been engaged to Rose (Rivera) for many years waiting to become more financially stable before they get married. He was supposed to go to college and become an English teacher, but that has gone by the wayside and Rosie is getting tired of waiting. Albert is overshadowed by his mother who butts into his life every chance she gets and doesn't get along very well with Rosie.

When it's announced that Conrad is being drafted, Albert cooks up a going away scheme (the idea is really Rosie's) to have him give a goodbye kiss to an adoring fan, live on the Ed Sullivan show (ask your parents). They find Kim MacAfee, in Sweetwater, Ohio, the president of his fan club there to be the recipient to this last kiss.

However, she has a boyfriend, Hugo, who is thinking of asking her to go steady. General musical theatre comedy mayhem results from bringing Birdie to Sweetwater, being home-hosted by the MacAfee family to great consternation by the father, Harry. As good musicals do, especially of the time, Kim and Hugo end up together, Albert and Rosie get ready to marry and Albert finally stands up to his mother. Lots of great songs, lots of fainting by all of Birdie's fans - male and female - a couple of big dance numbers (nothing too complicated though) and lots of fun roles for teens

The Teen Summer Stock Ensemble is an intense theatrical program designed to give area teens a taste of what it's like to work in as professional an environment as possible.

For information and tickets, go online at www.pca-az.net or call 928-445-3286