By: Amelia Naughten, News Editor
Mills Drama made audiences “put on a happy face” early this spring with a stunning production of Bye Bye Birdie, directed by Gary Stanford Jr. and Mills music teacher Dave Gregoric. Across two weekends on Friday April 19 & 26 and Saturday April 20 & 27, the collective work that the student cast, crew, and pit put into rehearsals came together in a fun, energetic and memorable performance.
Inspired by rock and country idol Elvis Presley’s enlistment into the US military at the height of the 1950s, the musical Bye Bye Birdie (released 1963) centers around famed popstar Conrad Birdie, who like Presley, joins the army. The story follows Birdie’s music manager, Albert Peterson, and girlfriend Rosie Alvarez trying to keep the business afloat in the wake of Birdie’s departure from the industry. Across various scenes of Birdie’s diehard fans screaming at the top of their lungs to the rollercoaster of Albert and Rosie’s relationship, the audience is taken through a comical journey exploring the ups and downs of stardom.
Rehearsals for the musical started in early January and began as vocal and instrumental lessons for learning the new music. Later, the crew transitioned to the stage where full run-throughs of dialogue, choreography and singing transpired. The last stage of these rehearsals featured the backstage technicians who layered on the set, light, and sound cues.
Joey Situ (11), who played Kim McAfee (a girl chosen to be featured in Birdie’s last music premiere), found these early vocal rehearsals essential in her success playing the role: “It took a lot of time in front of the piano to extend my range because I’m naturally an alto,” Situ shared.
For other actors like Ishaan Aurora (12), who starred as Conrad Birdie, they found that studying the character was an equally important task. Aurora recounts that to really embody the spirit of a 1960s music idol, he “definitely started listening to Elvis again, watched Austin Butler do his accent, and spent lots of time trying to get the hips right.”
When tech week rolled around, excitement built up amongst the drama department. Everyone was able to work out all the last minute changes over the daily rehearsals ranging from after school to as late as 10pm. When opening night rolled around, everyone gave their all to bring the stage to life in a seamless showing.
Ryan Spicker (11) played the main character, Albert Peterson, and proudly saw his hours of practice pay off: “It was a lot of practicing but we pushed through and I ended up being able to memorize all of [my lines].” From within the show, he remembers the “dance break in ‘Put on a Happy Face’ or the final number with Rosie [were my favorite parts]. I feel like that’s such a fun number to do and I had a lot of fun.”
Outside of the spotlight, the stage crew also brought the musical together. Stage Left Assistant Stage Manager Mia Khan (11) organizes the set runners and communicates with her fellow managers to coordinate the show backstage. Khan believes that being in the musical is “a really amazing experience, especially to teach people how the ins and outs of the show runs and help out backstage. It’s a lot of work but I’m really proud of this crew.”
For many of the cast members, this was their first show with the Mills Drama Guild. Newt Wolter (10), who was part of the dance and vocal ensemble, reflected on his first time experience in cast: “It’s such a different community compared to regular school. It’s a space where everyone is so expressive so it feels way more comfortable.”
At the same time, it wasn’t only underclassmen who had a phenomenal first show experience. Brianna Key (11), who played Rosie Alvarez, was trained professionally in singing and dancing for most of her life, but hadn’t auditioned for a show until this year. Her stunning range landed her the lead part, and she stepped up to the challenge. Key explained that her favorite memories from working with this group were “being backstage with everybody because it’s the best community. It’s the people, but it’s also getting to play a character.”
The first weekend of the show went smoothly, with only small adjustments to be made across the board. However, exhaustion from the long hours spent rehearsing in tech week and late nights after the show slowly set in. Essential cast and crew fell sick, and this affected the following week’s showing.
The night before the second Friday, Gianluca Bettucchi (12), who played Harry McAfee, called in sick. Bettucchi held a lead role with multiple songs dedicated to his character, but had no understudy. Justin Garcia (12), who was previously part of the dance and vocal ensemble, stepped up to take on his role in just under 24 hours.
Spending his entire morning and afternoon before the show hastily memorizing his lines, Justin was able to put on a fluent performance in the new role. Jeremy Garcia (12) commented on his experience playing in the musical and watching his brother Justin perform: “The process of working through the show with making it the best it could be, it was really fun, and I made sure that I brought that kind of energy so that everyone else can feel it. My favorite song was Kids, which is really funny, and after hearing both my brother Justin and Gianluca sing it, they really put their badussy into it and it made it really funny.”
With the show closing its curtains for the last time on Saturday night, it also sadly meant that it would be the last show for the seniors. Aurora shared, “I’m not gonna lie, I started drama just to try something new, BUT when I watched my first professional musical, I knew from the goosebumps that it was something that I actually really loved.” Aurora appreciated the power that came with how the actors manipulated their voices and he “wanted to be able to create art like that and in doing so, at Mills, found a community that wanted to do the same.”
Another senior, Jeremy Garcia expressed similar sentiments about the connections made in drama: “A lot of my friends I’ve made from music and…I’ve grown a lot of relationships through theater, so I’m really grateful to have met these really talented people that I can call my best friends. ” As a final note before he leaves the Mills Drama community for college, Garcia explained, “Everyone, especially me, makes mistakes–so don’t beat yourself up when you have a voice crack or mess up on lines…As long as you put your passion into it or as long as you’re having fun on stage, everyone else will feel it.”
The Mills drama department was reluctant to say “bye bye” to Bye Bye Birdie, but the memories made along the way will always be cherished. Next year will be another great musical, and anyone interested in drama is highly encouraged to try out. As Garcia put it: for the next crew in line, “Just be yourself, be as confident as possible and you’re going to do great things.”
