I have never been in a play, at least not a real one that someone might pay to see. But last night I made my stage debut in the musical Bye Bye Birdie. I must say I brought down the house (well, as much as a part with no lines can bring down the house). I guess I didn’t actually bring down the house, but I am sure I could have if they had given me a speaking part. But I guess they were afraid if they gave me a speaking part, I might ask for a singing part. I play a Shriner who doesn’t get to speak, but does get to drink and leer at a dancing girl. Some people said I was a natural for the role, but I have no idea what they meant.
Who knows? This may be the start of a whole new career for me, but I think next time, my agent and I will demand a more challenging role.
For any of you in the Twin Cities, I have GREAT NEWS. You haven’t completely missed your chance to see me. There will be a show at 7 Saturday night and 2:00 Sunday afternoon.
Yer Pal,
Jethro
(the leering Shriner in Act 2, Scene 5)
I did Bye Bye Birdie in 1984. I was Harvey Johnson and one of the members of the quartet. On opening day when we were doing curtain call I backed into a sign that was left on the set and it collapsed and just about knocked me out. Of course since my character was the nerd, everyone thought it was “staged” and it got quite the response. Let’s just say I didn’t do a repeat of that part of the performance on subsequent nights.
I loved that play even though it was a musical, I still sing those songs on occasion.
It takes talent to be able to do that on stage and make it look sincere without being too sincere.
I played a role in Guys and Dolls in a high school production. It was interesting once, but I have no interest in doing any more theater. Plus I’m not good at singing in key so I think any more musicals are definitely out.
I saw that and misunderstood, I thought you’d painted a picture of a window and got some kind of perverse satisfaction from watching birds fly into it… Maybe with a bird feeder painted on it too, to tempt even more…
Reminds me of a red square advert, or something similar, where a guy hangs a bird feeder on the other side of a window and a bird runs into it… If its wasn’t so non-PC i’m sure WKD would have nicked the idea by now. Their lift ad is genius.
I was riding my motorcycle under an overpass a few years ago when an unfortunate bird bounced off a tractor-trailer and “flew” over my head. I narrowly missed getting bashed in the head by a speeding dead bird.
You, sir, enjoyed one of the best parts in a theatrical production… you can put all the acting (well, maybe you don’t have to act in this part, dunno?) you want into the play, but you don’t have to memorize any lines! I am sorry I won’t get to see your performance… my telescope doesn’t resolve Minnesota very well
In my stage debut (as a techie) I almost burnt down the house… I was operating a flashpot (coffee can with a fuse and flashpowder used to create smoke) in a production of “Scrooge” and my 'pot had been knocked close to a pile of burlap cloth, unbeknownst to me. Just as soon as the ghost of Christmas past appeared, so did a good deal of smoke, followed by a few flames… someone broke from the script and ran on stage with an extinguisher to quickly solve the problem. And the show went on 10 minutes later.
What did bring down the house, as you well discovered, was a classic drunk. We had a “tech. rehearsal” the night before the show, which involved the actors merely walking through the show, improvising lines, while the tech. guys did all the lights, sound, etc… The only audience was the chorus, a group of children from the local elementary school brought in to sing a carol in the middle of the show… our actors were having fun goofing off through the whole rehearsal, acting drunk, etc. until one person took it too far.
As the ghost of christmas future took Scrooge to see his future corpse laying in his bed, a poof of smoke went up, and when it cleared, one actor was found straddling our mock corpse, pants around his ankles (with long underwear on underneath). Everyone had a good laugh, including the theatre’s director, but not the chorus’ chaperone, who quickly shuttled the children out of the house. IMHO, it was our best rehearsal!
Congrats on the debut! Don’t worry about the challenging roles, just enjoy the applause! May this lead to more appearances? On stage or in the drunk tank? Either way, let us know!
I used to spend countless hours hunting ducks in the swampy area called Bayou d’View and Cache River Wilflife Mgmt Area in Arkansas where they recently said “Hello Birdie, guess you’re not extinct after all” to the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.
I sell printing to Graceland. (Like those rack cards you see at the visitor’s centers and hotel lobbies, and the Elvis Insiders newsletter.)
I saw Elvis in concert at the Colliseum in (I think) 1974.
Yet I’ve never seen Bye Bye Birdie (play or movie).
I also killed a birdie with a BB gun as a kid. I still feel bad about that.
we did bye bye birdy for our musical. I wasn’t in it, but I heard about it. Anyways, we won something for being so awesome at the national level. I think, anyways.
Congratualtions! I just auditioned for what could be my first paying role. If you stick with it go do a ton of community theatre. Just get your face out there.
I can relate. One of the biggest jokes around my house and social circles is my singing.
This is something my church started several years ago that has evolved into more of a community theater than a church production. It is still done on a small scale. We do three performances for a total of less than 1000 people.
This is the first year I have taken part (we always do musicals and I can’t sing). I got a lot of laughs, but I think the laughs came mainly because it was humorous to see the pastor of the church acting like a drunk and staring lustfully at a brazen hussy.
