Weekend Showcase: “Bye Bye Birdie”

Armstrong High School is taking on a popular musical inspired by the life of Elvis as they serve up a spirited “Bye Bye Birdie.”

“I absolutely love the 50s,” said Justina Holte who plays the role of, Ursula Merkle. “We really got into 50s music, I mean Conrad is supposed to be like Elvis, so he did a lot of studying on how to look like Elvis and be like that and also the girls are like super screamy over the Beatles and stuff like that.”

“The plot kind of revolves around Albert Peterson and his secretary, Sara. They’ve hatched this plan to kind of give Conrad a one last kiss before he’s drafted into the Army,” said Will Burglechner, who plays Peterson.

“My favorite scene probably the one in our house where we all have a huge fight,” said Bailey Loso, who plays Mrs. Doris MacAfee. “There’s so much energy going on on stage and then Will comes in and tells us that we’re going to be on TV and we all get excited and we sing this song about Ed Sullivan.”

When the play opens you think there’s not much for a set. You will discover you’re wrong. The tech crew has done an outstanding job in creating very unique settings with enormous set pieces that come together perfectly on stage.

“We have a huge set piece that’s the house. Putting that together and figuring out how to maneuver it during runs has been the most challenging,” said Lukas Fraase, the musical’s assistant technical director. 

Bye Bye Birdie opens Feb. 2 at Armstrong High School and runs the following Friday and Saturday as well. Performances are at 7 p.m.

Armstrong High School

Robbinsdale

Arts Showcase