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Beyond the Byline: Protect the unprotected

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Masonic Lodge 61 conducts third-degree ceremony

<p>SWOYERSVILLE &#8212; When Harry and Doris MacAfee, of Sweet Apple, Ohio, learn their daughter has been chosen to receive &#8220;one last kiss&#8221; from Conrad Birdie in a publicity stunt before the teen idol ships out to join the Army, mom is thrilled.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s wonderful,&#8221; said Jessica Werbin, of West Pittston, speaking in character as Doris.</p><p>Dad is decidedly less happy about this opportunity for his daughter, as actor Kevin Costley, of Plymouth, explained earlier this week before a rehearsal of &#8220;Bye Bye, Birdie&#8221; at the Music Box Dinner Playhouse.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s 15 and he&#8217;s a lout,&#8221; Costley said. But, he added, &#8220;as any father would do in this situation, I give in.&#8221;</p><p>Mr. MacAfee changes his mind about the kiss when he learns his whole family will get to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, which was a huge deal back in the 1950s.</p><p>The musical &#8220;Bye Bye Birdie&#8221; is set in 1958, director Dana Feigenblatt said, and it&#8217;s full of nostalgic fun.</p><p>&#8220;(The cast) is having poodle-skirt fittings,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They&#8217;re very into the &#8217;50s hairstyles and saddle shoes and Keds. It&#8217;s the perfect show to get you out of the winter blues. When you hear the song &#8216;Put on a Happy Face,&#8217; how can you not?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It will remind audiences of a time when families ate dinner together and watched television together,&#8221; Werbin said.</p><p>&#8220;I think of the show as a squeaky-clean version of &#8216;Grease,&#8217;&#8221; Feigenblatt said.</p><p>Still, 15-year-old Abby Hastings, of Dallas, pointed out, there is a hint of teen rebellion.</p><p>&#8220;Liking someone your parents don&#8217;t like&#8221; is part of the reason her character &#8212; Kim MacAfee &#8212; feels an attraction to Conrad Birdie, who is not the most polite idol ever to set teen hearts fluttering.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s part of his natural personality&#8221; to be self-centered, 16-year-old John Toussaint, of Dallas, said, explaining he&#8217;s drawn from James Dean&#8217;s performance in &#8220;Rebel Without a Cause&#8221; for his portrayal of Birdie.</p><p>Toussaint said he&#8217;s also modeled the character on Elvis Presley, whose real-life induction into the Army reportedly inspired the script.</p><p>While the teenage characters deal with their crushes and other romantic entanglements, much of the action deals with the relationship between an older couple &#8212; Birdie&#8217;s manager, Al Peterson, and the manager&#8217;s secretary and long-term fiancee, Rosie.</p><p>&#8220;Oh, God, he&#8217;s so whiney,&#8221; Jimmy Williams, of Dunmore, said, describing Peterson as &#8220;the mama&#8217;s boy of all mama&#8217;s boys.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I looked at one page of the script and each of his lines started out with &#8216;Mama&#8217; or &#8216;Mommy&#8217; or &#8216;Rosie.&#8217; He&#8217;s codependent on both of these women,&#8221; said Williams, who is reprising the role of Al after portraying him in 1996 as a student at Dunmore High School.</p><p>&#8220;He has a lot of growing to do as a character,&#8221; Williams said.</p><p>&#8220;He does have to untie that last finger&#8221; from his mother&#8217;s apron strings, said Feigenblatt, who has undertaken the role of Al&#8217;s overbearing mother in addition to directing.</p><p>At one point, long-suffering fiancee Rosie will feel she has suffered enough. She leaves Al and seeks refuge in a bar filled with men from a fraternal organization. Shimmying, strutting, dancing on tables, using a handkerchief to flirtatious advantage &#8212; Rosie will do all of that.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m out of my comfort zone,&#8221; admitted Becky Phillips, of Wyoming, who even sails through a come-hither kind of cartwheel in that scene.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s about the extent of my acrobatic ability,&#8221; she said with a laugh.</p><p>All in all, the musical is light-hearted and fun, Phillips said, and it should put audiences in a good mood.</p><p>&#8220;If it doesn&#8217;t make you feel happy,&#8221; she said, &#8220;maybe you&#8217;re not paying attention.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The MacAfee family, portrayed by Kevin Costley, of Plymouth; JJ Pavlick of Mountain Top; Abby Hastings, of Dallas; and Jessica Werbin, of West Pittston; is excited about the prospect of appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, which is where teenage daughter Kim expects to get &#8216;one last kiss&#8217; from singer Conrad Birdie. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_musicbox.2.jpg</photo0><caption0>The MacAfee family, portrayed by Kevin Costley, of Plymouth; JJ Pavlick of Mountain Top; Abby Hastings, of Dallas; and Jessica Werbin, of West Pittston; is excited about the prospect of appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, which is where teenage daughter Kim expects to get &#8216;one last kiss&#8217; from singer Conrad Birdie. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_musicbox3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Becky Phillips, of Wyoming, plays Rosie, the long-suffering fiancee of Conrad Birdie&#8217;s manager, Albert Peterson, played by Jimmy Williams, of Dunmore. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_musicbox3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Becky Phillips, of Wyoming, plays Rosie, the long-suffering fiancee of Conrad Birdie&#8217;s manager, Albert Peterson, played by Jimmy Williams, of Dunmore. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_bye.bye_.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kim MacAfee, played by Abby Hastings, 15, of Dallas, swoons when she meets her idol, Conrad Birdie, played by John Toussaint, 16, of Dallas. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_bye.bye_.jpg</photo2><caption2>Kim MacAfee, played by Abby Hastings, 15, of Dallas, swoons when she meets her idol, Conrad Birdie, played by John Toussaint, 16, of Dallas. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photos </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Swoyersville theater takes audience back to &#8217;50s</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What: </strong>&#8216;Bye Bye, Birdie&#8217;</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Music Box Dinner Playhouse, 196 Hughes St., Swoyersville</p><p><strong>When: </strong>Today through Feb. 11 with curtain at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Buffet dinner is served 90 minutes before showtime.</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $35 for adults for dinner and a show; $25 for children 12 and younger; $18 for adults show only; $14 for students, children and members of the military</p><p><strong>Reservations:</strong> Call 570-283-2195 or email reservations@musicbox.org.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘Bye, Bye, Birdie’ flies into Music Box Dinner Playhouse in Swoyersville