Overview: Bye Bye Birdie
“This production showcases some extraordinary talent, and I cannot wait for our community to see it,” Silva added.
If you want to take a few hours to get away from all that is going on in the world right now, a visit to Patrick Henry High School might be a good idea.
That idea is even better if you are a fan of musicals.
The school’s performing arts team is putting on its version of Bye Bye Birdie through Saturday. Shows are scheduled for March 12-14 at 7 p.m., with a matinee also taking place on Saturday at 2 p.m.
This is the second production for the team this school year, following their production of Radium Girls last November.
Teacher Alex Silva, who directs and produces the musical, is in her first year at the school.
“I have been so happy to call this place my work home,” Silva said. “I cannot say enough about the amazing theatre students and performing arts teachers I work with. Our production of Bye Bye Birdie has been a fully collaborative process.”
According to Silva, technical theatre students have been building and painting sets, and performance students are on stage and playing in the orchestra pit.
“This production showcases some extraordinary talent, and I cannot wait for our community to see it,” Silva said.
The shows wouldn’t take place without many dedicated students chipping in with a variety of roles and tasks. That includes newcomers and others who have been around for a while.
Freshman Lily Thomson said the team rehearses four to five days a week. This includes work on memorization of lines and songs. According to Thomson, there are some 75 students, cast, crew, and orchestra members involved.
“Everyone has put a lot of work into making everything come together, both on stage and off,” Thomson said. “Especially collaborating on the set and staying late to get things painted, rehearsing their songs and dances in their downtime.”
A student at the other end of the spectrum is senior Isabelle Chase, taking part in her final production on campus.
Chase played Grace Fryer back in November during the production of Radium Girls.
“It was about the girls who worked in the watch painting factories in the 1920s, and their struggles with getting justice for essentially being poisoned at their workplace,” Chase said.
Taking part in her final school production, Chase has come to love all that it has involved over her four years on campus.
“I personally have been in theater all four years and done a musical each of them, so I’ve genuinely spent more than 12 hours at school in a day because of theater, but I really do love it,” Chase said. “The people I’ve worked with this year have all shown such amazing dedication and have put so much hard work into our productions, and I’m so proud of all of them.”
Fellow senior Melody Montoya echoed the sentiment about how much time students and staff have put into this production.
“We spent quite a lot of time staying late after school and committed four Saturdays to learning and rehearsing song, dance, and blocking,” Montoya said. “We started rehearsals back in January and have committed well over 250 hours, pouring into the town of Sweet Apple, Ohio.”
Montoya said that the students have bonded and connected over Bye Bye Birdie.
“We are exhausted but so excited to share our love of musical theatre with the world,” she added.
Junior Ben Freeman said that all the hours put into producing this event are well worth it.
“A lot of time after school is given to these productions, which not only make it a being itself, but also give a feeling that we are owning the show ourselves, just by virtue of our time allotted to the show,” Freeman said. “The effort is idly escalating as the show grows nearer; the entire cast and crew understand the work and commitment necessary to show our efforts.
“At the end of the day, most of the efforts of the collective cast come from a desire to put on the best possible show, as well as doing service to wonderfully fun stories.”
