Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has announced the full cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the Tony Award-winning 1960s rock ‘n’ roll-inspired musical parody of what happens to a small Midwestern community when an Elvis-like singing sensation swings through town looking for one last kiss before entering the Army. Bye Bye Birdie runs July 13-22 in the Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington Street, Waltham.
Tony Award nominee Anita Gillette stars as Mae Peterson, the comical mother of all martyred mothers who nearly loves her son Albert to distraction. With more than 75 stage and screen credits to her name, Gillette is probably best known for playing quirky mothers – most notably on television opposite Tina Fey (30 Rock), Marg Helgenberger (CSI) and John Goodman (Normal, Ohio); and in movies opposite Jennifer Aniston (She’s the One), Bill Murray (Larger than Life), Mary Louise Parker (Boys on the Side) and Jack Black (Bob Roberts). Audiences may also remember her for her funny and tender performance in the Oscar-winning film Moonstruck in which she played Mona, the hapless mistress to Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia).
In her early career on Broadway, Gillette moved quickly from the ensemble to replacement to featured actress to lead, making her debut in the chorus of Gypsy in 1959 only to take over the roles of Thelma and then June during the show’s two-year run. She later starred in Carnival, Guys and Dolls, Woody Allen’s Don’t Drink the Water, Cabaret, and Neil Simon’s Chapter Two, for which she earned a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Play. Most recently Gillette has starred Off-Broadway in The Big Meal at Playwrights Horizons and in Nora and Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore at the Westside Theater. She also recently made her one-woman cabaret debut in Anita Gillette: After All at Birdland to rave reviews.
Joining Gillette in Bye Bye Birdie as the swoon-inducing rock ‘n’ roll idol Conrad Birdie is handsome rising star Ryan Overberg. A professional actor who has moved from New York to Boston to continue his training at the Boston Conservatory, Overberg most recently turned heads as the muscle-bound (and muscle-brained) Sonny in the SpeakEasy Stage production of XANADU. Other credits include musical heartthrob Link Larkin in the national tour of Hairspray, Roger in Rent, The Who’s Tommy, The Big Gay Musical, and Le Cabaret Grimm at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF).
Additional cast members are Jacob Sherburne as Albert Peterson, Carman Napier as Rosie Alvarez, Gillian Gordon as Kim McAfee, Brad Walters as Mr. Harry McAfee, Linda Lodi as Mrs. Doris McAfee, Josh Sussman as Randolph McAfee, Naree Ketudat as Ursula Merkle, Matt Phillipps as Hugo Peabody, and Shonna McEachern as Gloria Rasputin. Adult ensemble members are Kelly Naugler, Sierra Kagen, Cathy Nardone, Kristina Riegle, Kristen Almechatt, David Carney, Tony Feole, Christopher King, Tom Richardson, Gary Vincent, James Sheehan, Peter Mill, and Zach Green. Teen ensemble members are Courtney Blanch, Emily Grace Smith, Hayley Richardson, Meredith Langton, Kim Rose, Briana Fallon, Emily Tiberio, Laura Girard, Alex Nemiroski, Darren Bunch, Connor Fallon, Nahshon Rosenfeld, Josh Zammuto and Jared Green.