Fans you heard correctly. Your favorite rock star, Conrad Birdie, was drafted into the army. But before he leaves he has selected one lucky fan to kiss.
And the lucky girl is Kim MacAfee.
You can see Conrad before he leaves on Feb. 26-28 as the Clarkston High School Drama Club presents “Bye Bye Birdie.”
“It is a show that is meant to be a satire when Elvis Presley left for the war in the 1950s,” Nathan Wilson said about the classic musical, written by Michael Stewart.
The story follows the main character Kim MacAfee, played by Alyssa Harbaugh, as the lucky girl chosen to kiss Conrad, played by Micah Blanks.
“She is a girl who knows simultaneously what she wants and at the same time doesn’t have a clue what she wants,” Harbaugh explained. “She is a girl who is trying so hard to grow up, be independent and be her own person. She embodies what every teen girl goes through just trying to find yourself. She has a very profound way of going about it.”
Blanks described Conrad as a typical rock star who wants to have as much fun as he can before he joins the army.
“He’s a fun, loving dude,” Harbaugh smiled.
A conflict for Kim is her boyfriend – Hugo Peabody, played by Mitchell Biggs.
“It is a big deal for her but she is also head in heels with this rock star she ends up meeting,” Harbaugh explained.
“He is head over heels in love,” Biggs said. “Kim is falling in love with Birdie while Hugo is falling in love with Kim. He’s often trying to win Kim’s attention from Conrad.”
The story also includes the relationship between Conrad’s manager Albert Peterson, played by Luke Hodgson, and Rosie Alvarez, played by Sarah Fluegel.
“Rosie is a very independent, strong woman but at the same time she is trying to get Albert to love her,” Fluegel said. “She has been in a relationship with him for eight years. She is ready to settle down and move out to the country and have a family. Her struggle is Conrad Birdie. I have a problem throughout the show to get him to settle down.”
Albert is concentrating on trying his best to make everybody happy – the record company, Conrad, Rosie and his mother, Mrs. Peterson.
“Oh, yes,” Fluegel winced. “She is my other bump in the road. She is more like a strong, large mountain.”
“He isn’t successful in a lot of things, but no matter what he does he will do it with a smile on his face,” Hodgeson said about Albert. “He will still try no matter what to make everyone around him as happy as they can be.”
Fluegel added the story pokes fun at the 1950s and relationships especially how women should be and what men should be.
“Bye Bye Birdie” is being performed Feb. 26, 27 and 28 at 7 p.m. A matinee show is Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. Call 248-623-4024 for more info.