Bye Bye Birdie Uniondale Theatre reviews
Diana, what a disappointment!
My hubby and I are devoted Bye Bye Birdie enthusiasts. Right now, she's singing "Cry Me a River" on my MP3 player. So, why did we give the concert at the Bergen Pac on Tues, Oct 15th only one star? That's all it deserved, if that. She talked more than she sang Bye Bye Birdie. When she finally sang, it was tunes from the 20's and 30's, possibly -- to us -- THE most tedious era of music ever. Can you say: DEPRESSING? It's no wonder Bye Bye Birdie often mentions "her depression" with music like this in her repertoire. To worsen the honky-tonk/silent-movie score stuff she was playing, there was an enormous screen behind her and the band that played continually repeating little loops of 1920's silent-reel stuff... ugly people, jerky motion, more ugly people, skeletal horse pulling carriage... UGH! Over and over again. Maybe those who enjoy this period-type stuff will think me a philistine for disliking it, but I disliked it. So did most of the audience. Politely, they clapped after each song. But when she FINALLY relented and performed one of the standards we'd all come to hear (Blvd of Broken Dreams), they went wild. Of course, they did, they were so relieved to get out of the Great Depression!! The band wasn't tight that night at ALL... at times, their rhythms were off, and the solos were jarring -- the guitarist's solo belonged in a rock band, for example. Very amateurish. If Bye Bye Birdie doesn't return to the great standards and jazz/cabaret pieces that made us love her in the first place, we certainly won't hear her again. PS: the upstairs seats in the Bergen Pac were SO CRAMPED it was painful, and my hubby and I are small people -- both under 5'7" and not plus-sized. Overall, an evening that was annoying, disappointing, and uncomfortable. Bleagh.