Bye, Bye Birdie' will be summer musical

“Bye, Bye Birdie,” a musical first introduced in 1960, was chosen by the campus and community to be the summer musical at UW-Marshfield/Wood County in July.

The musical earned 167 votes on the UW-M/WC Web site during the week-long poll.  Second was “Working” with 161 votes.  “Schoolhouse Rock Live!” earned 148 votes and “Into the Woods” 106 votes.

“We’re very pleased with the terrific response we had to our poll,” said Steve Decker, assistant professor of communication and theatre arts.  Decker will direct Bye, Bye Birdie.  “We wanted to involve people in the selection of the musical, as well as in the production itself.  This was our first poll, and there were nearly 600 votes cast.  We’re really pleased with the results.”

Bye, Bye Birdie features an Elvis-like character, Conrad Birdie, who is billed as the biggest rock & roll star of the 60's ever to be drafted into the Army. His agent hatches a scheme for a last publicity stunt to get out of debt. The ingenious scheme sees a wake of teenage hysteria sweep the nation as Birdie bestows his final pre-induction kiss on Kim MacAfee, of Sweet Apple, Ohio, a randomly chosen fan club member. Songs include "What's the Matter with Kids Today,"  "Telephone Song," "We Love You Conrad" and “Put on a Happy Face.”

Bye, Bye Birdie will be performed by Campus Community Players on July 20-22 and 27-29 in the Helen Connor Laird Theatre in the Helen Connor Laird Fine Arts Building at UW-Marshfield/Wood County.  Tickets will be $10 in advance and $12 at the door.  For tickets, call 389-6534 or email for tickets by clicking here.  VISA, MasterCard & Discover accepted.