Bye Bye Birdie Live! (NBC) - General Discussion

[Dee]

Quote

NBC is taking audiences back to the ’60s for its upcoming musical Hairspray Live!, and for its next one the network is going back even further — to the ‘50s.

The network’s annual holiday musical event for 2017 will be a live telecast of the 1960 Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie, starring Jennifer Lopez.

NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt made the announcement during a Paley Center panel interview with EW and PEOPLE editorial director Jess Cagle. Greenblatt also announced that Harvey Fierstein, who stars in Hairspray and adapted its book for television, will similarly adapt Michael Stewart’s original book of Bye Bye Birdie for the telecast.

Lopez will play Rose “Rosie” Alvarez, the secretary and miraculously patient girlfriend (not, as she had hoped by now, fiancée) of frazzled songwriter and music agent Albert Peterson.

In the original Broadway production, the roles were played by Chita Rivera and Dick Van Dyke. In the famous 1963 film adaptation, Van Dyke reprised his role alongside Janet Leigh as Rosie — whose surname was changed to DeLeon and whose showstopping second-act dance number “Spanish Rose” was cut entirely.

The show follows the hysteria of a small town in Ohio during a brief stopover by Conrad Birdie, an Elvis-like bad boy rock and roll heartthrob, who pays a visit to a member of his fan club (15-year-old Kim MacAfee) in a last-ditch effort to drum up publicity before he’s sent into the Army. Among the show’s most memorable songs are “The Telephone Hour,” “How Lovely to Be a Woman,” “Kids,” and Albert’s perennially optimistic solo, “Put on a Happy Face.” The show features lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse. [x]

Edited October 28, 2016 by Dee

[methodwriter85]

I have mixed feelings about Lopez. I can't stand her personality and her voice sucks, but she DOES have a watchable quality to her, when she's in something that's done well. And it's not like she's carrying the whole thing. Plus, this isn't West Side Story. It's not a very challenging musical.

I wonder if the show is going to pretend the movie version opening number doesn't exist entirely, or they'll actually try and do it. Third option is that they could do what the 1995 t.v. movie did and re-purpose the song.

I wonder if they'll have Kim as a sexpot like the movie, or she'll actually be more like an innocent 15-year old girl. I'm wondering how "How Lovely It Is To Be A Woman" is going to go over with modern audiences.

I'm kind of surprised they're sticking to a 50's/early 60's theme. I kind of thought they'd do something modern, or go for another period.

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

They did an updated TV movie version of BBB in 1995 - Vanessa Williams was Rosie, and Jason Alexander (with a horrible toupee) was Albert. Chynna Phillips was a very uninspiring Kim. 

[eliza]

Excited to see Jennifer in this I'm not a fan of her music but she's a great performer and for some reasons she's particularly great when she performs other people songs, like she did for her Selena & Celia Cruz tribute and also on Idol when she performed other hit songs and she's a phenomenal dancer.

this is a good example of that.

excited to see who else they're gonna cast, it's also great news that Harvey Fierstein is writing it and from the article about the annouced says they'll be following the play not the movie.

Edited November 3, 2016 by eliza

[Brattinella]

One of my top three movies of all time!  I hope they do it justice.

[Dee]

With NBC's casting of huge names to headline these musicals who do you think Meron and Zadan will cast to fill Dick Van Dyke's shoes?

I'm guessing they'll try to land Hugh Jackman or Harry Connick Jr. although NPH or Matthew Morrison would do in a pinch.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

I'm waiting to see who will be cast as Birdie.....

[AZChristian]

I looked at IMDB to see who had been cast so far. One person: JLo. I'm out.

[starri]

There will be some Disney Channel star as Conrad.  Or Darren Criss.

[methodwriter85]

I could see Ross Lynch. I don't think he'd be right for the part, but I can see him getting cast.

[Sarah 103]

As for the project as whole, I think the opening number "Bye, Bye Birdie" is rather harmless. It doesn't need to be there, but I won't be upset if they include. I will be yelling and swearing at my TV if they use the stupid subplot about the Russian Ballet. That whole subplot is the reason why I thought the movie was so much longer than it was.

On 1/29/2017 at 10:14 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I could see Ross Lynch. I don't think he'd be right for the part, but I can see him getting cast.

Ross Lynch would be perfect for Hugo. He's about the right age and has that bland perfect boyfriend/boy next door quality that the part of Hugo requires.

On 10/28/2016 at 4:18 AM, methodwriter85 said:

I'm kind of surprised they're sticking to a 50's/early 60's theme. I kind of thought they'd do something modern, or go for another period.

Once you've picked "Bye Bye Birdie," you're pretty much locked into a specific time frame. I can't see "The Telephone Hour" reworked for the age of social media. Do you replace the part about Ed Sullivan with Conrad Birdie's YouTube Channel? There are some works you can easily adapt and change the time period/other elements. This show isn't one of them. Also, they didn't change the era "Hairspray" was set in, so why would they change the era for this production?   

[methodwriter85]

No, I mean I don't expect them to update Bye Bye Birdie (I mean, you'd have to take out Ed Sullivan and the telephone scene wouldn't work), but I'm surprised that NBC went with another 60's themed musical.

Because it's NBC and not ABC I know that Newsies would never happened, but man, that would have been great.

[Brattinella]

I really have to dig out my copy of Bye Bye, Birdie again!

[eliza]

Zachary Levi said that he would do it if asked :

[Sarah 103]

On March 12, 2017 at 11:19 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I know that Newsies would never happened, but man, that would have been great.

Newsies Live on ABC would be fantastic. Does ABC do the live musicals, or is it just an NBC thing? If ABC wanted to get in on it, Newsies would be a good choice. 

[methodwriter85]

They're doing a pre-filmed version of Dirty Dancing that is supposedly airing in May, but it's giving serious "this is not going to be good" vibes.

I do hope the success of the filmed version of Newsies Live might give ABC the idea to put on a version. Maybe they could use Corey Cott? (Jeremy Jordan was great and I was glad to see it, but he is not 17-looking at all.)

[PRgal]

On 2017-03-21 at 0:38 PM, methodwriter85 said:

They're doing a pre-filmed version of Dirty Dancing that is supposedly airing in May, but it's giving serious "this is not going to be good" vibes.

I do hope the success of the filmed version of Newsies Live might give ABC the idea to put on a version. Maybe they could use Corey Cott? (Jeremy Jordan was great and I was glad to see it, but he is not 17-looking at all.)

People has released photos from the Dirty Dancing remake.  Debra Messing as the mom makes me feel old (even though she's definitely old enough to be the mother of a teenager and a 20-something - especially in a period piece).  I'm watching, but I'm not sure if it'll be hate-watching or not.  Haha.

[WendyCR72]

The pictures just don't impress me. But I'll likely end up hate watching. Glad I have the Blu-Ray of the original!

[starri]

23 hours ago, PRgal said:

Debra Messing as the mom makes me feel old (even though she's definitely old enough to be the mother of a teenager and a 20-something - especially in a period piece)

I knew Kelly Bishop, Kelly Bishop was a friend of mine, and Debra Messing is no Kelly Bishop.

[SiobhanJW]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/nbc-makes-jennifer-lopezs-bye-bye-birdie-sexist-tv-989253?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thr%2Ftelevision+(The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Television)

I didn't see this posted, and just came across it. Harvey Fierstein talks about how he has finished adapting the book for the Live Production, and that he changed Albert & Rosie's jobs. They are now teachers, he didn't think it was necessary to have her be his Secretary. Albert is a English Teacher and Rosie is a Music Teacher. 

Edited April 12, 2017 by SiobhanJW

[methodwriter85]

On 4/8/2017 at 3:06 AM, WendyCR72 said:

The pictures just don't impress me. But I'll likely end up hate watching. Glad I have the Blu-Ray of the original!

It kind of bugs me that they're sticking with Baby's 1980's perm. I get why her hair is like that in the movie (it's a bitch to brush out a perm), but if they were going to bother with putting a wig on Abigail Breslin, they should have gotten her a more era-appropriate hairstyle.

In real life, I think Baby would've had a short pixie cut like Gidget's "tomboy" friend in the first movie.

If they take out the abortion part in the musical, I'm changing the channel immediately.

As to Bye Bye Birdie, I'm guessing "How Lovely To Be A Woman" is going to be altered a bit. I also wonder if they're going to take out the movie title tune or repurpose it like the 1995 t.v. movie did.

Back when Mad Men made the reference, people in the episode thread talked about how their school's productions kept the movie title tune to it. Which is funny, because the writer basically tacked it on when he was told they needed a movie title theme and he absolutely hated it.

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

If they take out the abortion part in the musical, I'm changing the channel immediately.

I don't think this is a musical, just a straight remake with some roles (Debra Messing's Marjorie Houseman, for one) being expanded upon.

[WendyCR72]

As the Bye, Bye Birdie! thread seems to have been hijacked by the upcoming Dirty Dancing remake, I have created a thread for the latter here. That way, this thread can go back to the show it is intended for. Happy posting!

[methodwriter85]

Bye Bye Birdie Live is getting pushed back, supposedly because of J. Lo's schedule.

I think it's network speak for, "Hairspray didn't do what we wanted it to do, so now we're going to put this on hold until we figure out if this is worthwhile to continue."

[Irlandesa]

I doubt that. If they had any doubts about the future of live musicals, they wouldn't be planning Jesus Christ Superstar. But they do need to reconsider if J Lo is the person they should do this with.  What if they renew Shades of Blue again next year?

[Irlandesa]

Bumping this up because Bye Bye Birdie has been delayed again.

It says they're looking for another musical to fill the Dec. 2018 spot.  I hope they manage to find something.

[In2You]

JLo doesnt even have a voice fit for musicals so they should just cast someone else.

[JAYJAY1979]

I'm sorry.. either sit down JLO and tell her to cut some of her commitments or cut her from the production.

[Mumbles]

Lopez isn’t even a good singer. What were they gonna do, autotune her?  There are loads of Latina singers who would kill in the role.