“Bye Bye Birdie,” is a musical comedy loosely inspired by Elvis Presley’s being drafted into the Army in 1957.

The musical is famous for popularizing the songs “Put On a Happy Face” and “Honestly Sincere.”

In the musical, the year is 1958 and a fictional version of Presley named Conrad Birdie, played by Jack Griebel, has received his draft notice, devastating a legion of Birdie’s teenage fans. It also sends Birdie’s songwriter Albert Peterson (Brennan Glawe) into a panic who fears his career is over, but Peterson’s long-suffering secretary/girlfriend Rose Alvarez (Maddie Schreyer) has a plan. They will drum up a publicity stunt around Birdie’s induction. For his final television performance before going into the army, Birdie will appear on Ed Sullivan with a random. Birdie will sing a newly written song “One Last Kiss” to the fan. The lucky fan happens to be teenager Kim McAfee (Elissa Ries), who lives in the small town of Sweet Apple, Ohio. Birdie visits Sweet Apple ahead of the performance and turns the community and the McAfee household on its head. Kim’s boyfriend Hugo Peabody (Logan Klawitter) is also upset with arrangement.

The cast and crew have been in rehearsal since August and are excited to take the stage with this nostalgic musical. With a production set 66 years in the past, there was a risk a young cast would not understand all the references to the ’50s time period, but producer and stage manager Courtney Wyczawski said the students caught on fast.

Kim MacAfee, played by Elissa Ries, and other teen fans recites the Conrad Birdie fan club oath as Birdie, played by Jack Griebel, arrives at the Sweet Apple Valley train station.

“They absolutely understand it,” she said. It was relatively easy to catch the actors up on the historical context for the musical. The only real obstacle was teaching the cast to use certain antiquated technology.

“We had to teach the cast how to use the phones,” Wyczawski said. An early scene in the musical involves a dozen teenagers calling each other on the phone during the song “The Telephone Hour.” However, since the play is set in the 1950s, many of the kids were unfamiliar how to hold the old-fashion receiver handset. This was only a minor setback.

Wyczawski said the production lucked out with casting sophomore Jack Griebel as Conrad Birdie. She said Griebel was already a huge fan of Elvis and knew how to play the character.

Griebel said originally he was unfamiliar with “Bye Bye Birdie,” but once he found out it was inspired by Elvis he rushed to audition.

“I had to have this role,” he said. “During the summer I watched the movie and I listened to clips of Elvis to get his voice down.”

Staff photos by Clay Schuldt A reporter takes notes during a scene in Cathedral’s ‘Bye Bye Birdie’

After months of rehearsing, Griebel’s Elvis impression is near flawless. The only downside is Griebel said his Elvis voice is starting to seep into his regular life.

Griebel said he even has Presley’s dance moves down. As a child, his grandmother would call him Baby Elvis because he would always swing his hips when dancing around.

Griebel promised that before the performances he will be styling his hair into the Elvis pompadour.

This production of “Bye Bye Birdie” features six Cathedral High School (CHS) seniors. For some, this will be one of their last performances with CHS.

Though the musical is called “Bye-Bye Birdie” the main characters are actually Albert and Rose, and their rocky relationship. Albert and Rose are played by seniors Brennan Glawe and Maddie Schreyer. The two seniors were both excited to play lead characters during their last years at CHS.

Glawe has been in seven productions with CHS, but said Albert Peterson could be the biggest challenge. Not because he’s in most of the play but because Glawe needs to play “pathetic.”

“I usually play characters with a backbone,” Glawe said “but for Albert I’ve needed to learn how to melt on stage.”

Glawe is up for the challenge and said a principal cast member is excited to act through the entire show.

Schreyer said her role as Rose is demanding. The production features a lot blocking and movement, often with a full cast on stage. Fortunately, Schreyer has six years of experience with The Sonics, Cathedral’s dance team, and she is more than prepared to fill Rose’s shoes. Schreyer said the best part of the production was playing a great character like Rose.

“I love her sass,” she said “and I get to dance all the time.”

Performances to “Bye Bye Birdie” will be held 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10 in the Holy Trinity Auditorium. Advance tickets can be purchased at the CHS Office, 600 N Washington. For more details and to stay updated on the show, please visit the school’s website at (http://www.nuacs.com/). Reserved Seating: Adults $12, Students $7. General Admission: Adults $10, Students $5.