YPT Summer Workshop "Bye, Bye, Birdie" (Cast One)

I saw portions of the Friday and Saturday night performances of "Bye, Bye, Birdie" at the Varsity Theater. Nice show, particularly considering some of the technical pressures: DMTC could not afford more than the bare-minimal stage rehearsal time on the now-pricier Varsity Theater stage, and the Summer Workshops in general have always had less rehearsal time available overall than YPT shows usually have. Nevertheless, the show looked better-rehearsed than the "Bye, Bye, Birdie" Summer Workshop three years ago, and the set looked very nice indeed (the sparkling 45 rpm record emblem on the set was painted in the form of a "Z", an inadvertent, unconscious tribute to Jan Isaacson's favorite television hero from the early 60's, "Zorro").

It was interesting to watch the cast portraying characters considerably older than themselves. That's when the actor's craft gets tested: inhabiting another person's life, and living through it. For Cast One (Cast Two next week) Ryan Warren played Albert Peterson and Katherine Vanderford played Rosie Alvarez.

Ryan Warren dressed in a very professional manner, and played Albert in a professional way as well. From the back of the theater, he looked a bit like film actor Tony Roberts, who was cast in several movies as Woody Allen's calm, professional foil: remember, 'Rob' from "Annie Hall", listening to neurotic 'Alvy Singer' (Woody Allen) as he explained the day's latest outrage?

You know, I was having lunch with some guys from NBC, so I said, 'Did you eat yet or what?' And Tom Christie said, 'No, JEW?' Not 'Did you?'...JEW eat? JEW? You get it? JEW eat

Anyway, 'Rob' thought 'Alvy Singer' was imagining things. So, to me, Ryan's Albert was more like calm 'Rob' than neurotic 'Alvy', but the script seemed to call for more of a neurotic. So, I worried about that a bit, but what I did like was that Ryan and Katherine worked together very well as a couple, and so some of my concerns were allayed.

Katherine seemed to have trouble establishing herself in the First Act, when she had to share the spotlight with other people, but once she became 'Spanish Rose', and was clearly, unmistakably identified as the star, she began enjoying herself (I think Katherine likes being the star!)

Julia Soto did a very good job with Albert's mother, Mae Peterson. Despite her young age, Julia effectively captured the pressures of aging, and the threat posed by Rosie. I liked Julia's crisp diction. Julia's performance was much different than Savannah Scott's brilliant, raging, over-the-top Mae Peterson from the Summer Workshop three years ago. Nevertheless, I think Julia got much closer to the essence of the character than Savannah did. Excellent job!

John Ramos was a very winning Mr. MacAfee: very pleasant and enjoyable to watch on stage. Jessica Greenstreet played Mrs. MacAfee very well: lots of smiling suburban housewife energy (the epitome of the 1950's ideal) was evident. And this was the first time I've seen Hailee Ketchum-Wiggins perform in an way that could be clearly evaluated (unfortunately, I missed Wizard of Oz in the spring). Just perfect! She's a real asset to Sacramento-area theater!

Cast Two will perform, with some of the actors (the girls particularly) trading places. It will be fun to see how a different mix of personalities deal with the same acting challenges!

(insert pictures, when available).