New Hyde Park Memorial High School performed Bye Bye Birdie on March 13, 14 and 15.
The largest cast in school history brought the stage to life and thrilled audiences with song, dance and well-timed comic relief.
The show was the third musical directed by Gary Ferrar in New Hyde Park and builds on his previous successes, Guys and Dolls and The Sound of Music. Music department chairperson Noel Monat conducted the pit band that provided the music behind the snappy and entertaining songs. David Sime, Chris Micciche and their student stage crew provided lighting and flawlessly executed scene changes.
The story unfolds into a full-blown romantic comedy when a teenage heartthrob Conrad Birdie (Anthony DiMarco, top photo, center) receives orders to report for military duty. While Conrad’s manager Albert Peterson (Nick Sieban) struggles with the imminent loss of his company’s star, Rosie Alvarez (Sarah Manas) comes up with a plan to capitalize on the loss.
Ultimately, the scheme is meant to free Albert from show business to pursue a career in teaching and, more importantly, pursue Alvarez. However, the plan to give one last kiss to a loyal Birdie Fan Club member, Kim MacAfee (Taylor Giallanza), takes some serious twists.
The passions of a teenage boy, Hugo Peabody (Ian McParland) put an end to that ‘one last kiss’ with one knockout punch. Despite the failure of the plan and the meddling efforts of Albert’s mother (Noelle Becker), love finds a way and the show concludes with one last kiss between Albert and Rosie.
