Bye Bye Birdie (Theatre Under The Stars, TUTS) [theatre review]

This Wednesday (August 3rd) I had the pleasure of bringing my mum out to Theatre Under the Stars for my first experience there, and her first in many years. We arrived a little late due to a massive accident on the Lions Gate, but the staff were extremely friendly and let us in quickly with pretty good seats. The event is assigned seating, which I don’t really understand considering it was only about 1/3 full to capacity, but so it is.

I had read a brief summary of the plot-line, so I kind of knew what was going on at the point when we arrived. The cast made it easy to catch up anyways, each playing their part dramatically. The set was simple, with nostalgic 1960 style decor, colour, and fonts, and a black and white screen in the background showing stills, video clips, or even live footage of the performers and sometimes audience members.

As fun and interesting as the set was, so were the costumes. Every character in this musical was dressed well, but my favourite outfits included Rosie’s wedding dress (actually, I am a sucker for weddings in theatre anyways because they are just so lovely!) and Spanish dress. A crew of Bollywood-style belly dancers, ladies in head-to-toe pink, and Conrad Birdie’s leather jacket also stood out for me as far as dress went.

Aside from the aesthetics, the actual performers were great too. The lead roles were very strong and sounded fantastic. I couldn’t believe how well Erik Gow, playing Conrad Birdie’s character, could dance in such tight pants! The only issues were that at times the dancers on stage seemed crowded and chaotic, but considering that those scenes mostly revolved around screaming fan-girls, it was fitting.

My favourite musical number was “We’ve Got A Lot of Living to Do”. I felt like the dancing was almost flawless, and the chemistry between Amy Jean McElwain and Erik Gow was pretty spectacular. My mum and I were also blown away but also enchanted by the youngsters in “Kids,” and that’s exactly what this company is all about, growing and mentoring from beginner to mature performers.

Of course, seeing a play at an outdoor theatre involves a few distractions. On my particular night, the were some sound glitches, firework cues in the background, a hobby plane flying too close to the Malkin Bowl for comfort, and a skunk that ran through the crowd! Another distraction that I didn’t mind so much was watching the bits of the orchestra that I could see. The drummer was sitting right close to the edge, so I could see him bopping along to the beat for most of the show.

It’s definitely a lovely experience that I would recommend, but one last word of advice: bring mosquito repellent! You can catch Theatre Under the Stars until August 20th.

Disclosure: Jessica attended this performance of TUTS on media tickets kindly provided to Hummingbird604.com by Theatre Under The Stars. We are neither obligated not required to write a review, but I think it’s important to highlight the awesome theatre we have in the city. As always, I retain editorial control on anything that is published on my site. You can read more of Jessica’s writing on her Vancouver Music Review blog too.

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