Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Fortunately, Tammy Mader's staging of "Bye Bye Birdie," which she also choreographs, makes up for the creaky joints in Michael Stewart's book with plenty of kicky dance numbers and some standout performances. So while a joke built around confusion between Roberto Rossellini and Mussolini probably doesn't land the same way it did 56 years ago, Mader keeps the stage pictures popping with visual wit and sharp physical comedy. The handful of memorable songs in Charles Strouse and Lee Adams' score (notably "Put On a Happy Face" and "Kids") land with pleasant recognition."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...To be sure, the show is total silliness, but it doesn’t try to be anything more. And I’d go just for the dancing."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Of course, you need a high-caliber cast to do this, and for this Drury Lane production Mader has brought out lots of big guns, among them Michelle Aravena (dynamite as a sad-sack songwriter's girlfriend/secretary) and Leryn Turlington (who sizzles as the young teen who wins the right to kiss the Elvis stand-in, Conrad Birdie, before he goes into the army)."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...There's not a wrong note, weak spot, bad move or lost opportunity in Drury Lane's deliriously delightful, well-worth-the-wait revival. Too smart to be sentimental, it brims with showbiz wonders: There's the gossip girls' contagious "Telephone Hour," Crowle's moxie-packed tap dance with sad-girl Isabelle Roberts in "Put On A Happy Face," and Aravena's go-for-broke, tour-de-force blowout with astonished conventioneers in the "Shriners' Ballet" at the dive known as Maude's Roadside Retreat."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...If you want to see an amusing, light-hearted send-up of 50s teen culture with superb production values and great dancing, Drury Lane’s Bye Bye Birdie is the show for you. Written in 1960, this Broadway musical may have been one of the earliest satires of 1950s middle-class society."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Director/Choreographer Tammy Mader delivers a Bye Bye Birdie that is a warm and colorful explosion for a winter's day. Anchored by the excellent comic talent of George Andrew Wolff (as Harry MacAfee), Stephanie Hansen as Ursula, and Michelle Arvena and Matt Crowle as the lovers at the heart of the story, Mader's production is timeless and timely. It may not change your view on society, dating, the American family or Broadway musicals, but it will leave you laughing - if no where else than in the Shriner's Ballet."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...This is musical comedy at its finest. Yes, it was the 1950’s/ 1960’s and even though we have a “Jewish Mother” and a “Spanish Rose”, none of this was done to hurt or dishonor anyone or any race of people. Mae keeps talking about sending Rose back to wherever she comes from south of the border ( but none of this is treated as if it was Donald Trump saying it). It is all in fun and allows us to watch Ms Aravena show her stuff doing “Spanish Rose” in the second act. Her character also does a great Shriners ballet (very impressive staging Tammy!)."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...In a musical that might only promise to simply be a walk down memory lane, this unexpectedly joyous song and dance confection is an absolute delight. For audiences unfamiliar with the show they're in for a real treat. Besides being entertained they'll be surprised to discover the origin of many Broadway's classic tunes. Those who never lived through that era will sneak a peek at what made the fifties so nifty. And for theatergoers who've been there and done that, Drury Lane's latest show is an affectionate and truly entertaining trip back to a time when we all had "A Lot of Livin' to Do.""
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...The production profits immensely from Christopher Ash's scenic and projection designs. The staging begins with a film montage of film bits that establish the late 1950's background. Ash uses the Drury Lane stage turntable creatively and the color of his projections enhanced by Charles Cooper's gaudy lighting effects makes the production continually entertaining to watch. The costumes by Sharon Sachs help, running to period sweater styles. Ben Johnson conducts the lively pit orchestra."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...It's the score more than the story, I suspect, that keeps Bye Bye Birdie on our stages and TV screens. Charles Strouse and Lee Adams gave us one of the most hit-laden scores of the later Golden Era, and they brilliantly merged a Broadway sound with the rock-pop of the day."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Recommended
"...Like a comfortable mug of hot chocolate soothing Chicagoland’s winter chill, Drury Lane Theatre’s slice of Americana that is Bye Bye Birdie offers musical theatre patrons a lovely two-hour time travel escape to an easier era gone by."
