The cult of celebrity in a high school play | Arts & Entertainment

Theatre Aspen Education’s production of  “Bye Bye Birdie” opened Thursday night at the Aspen District Theater at Aspen Middle School, with performances to continue Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. The show is directed by Caitlin Cremins, with music direction by John Konstantopoulos.

“Bye Bye Birdie,” which features actors from seventh to 12th grades, is not so loosely based on Elvis Presley and the events surrounding his being drafted into the army in 1957. 

In the musical, teen heartthrob Conrad Birdie has been drafted into service. His team comes up with the idea to choose a girl from his fan club to kiss on the “Ed Sullivan Show” after singing a new song “One Last Kiss.” Birdie comes to a high school in Sweet Apple, Ohio, to find his girl. Shenanigans ensue. 

“Bye Bye Birdie” premiered on Broadway in 1961 with Dick Van Dyke in the starring role. The play won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and a Best Actor award for Van Dyke. “Bye Bye Birdie” spawned a sequel, a 1963 movie and a production was made for television in 1995. But most relevantly, the play became a staple as a go-to high school musical that has endured for over 50 years. If you’ve ever done any high school theater, there is a good chance you’ve performed in “Bye Bye Birdie.”

Khalil Khan-Farooqi plays the lead Albert Peterson in the play. When asked why is “Bye Bye Birdie” still relevant today, Khan-Farooqi responded, “The play satires the idolization of pop stars, sort of making fun of that, and I think that’s relevant today with social media and social media stars and influencers and that whole culture, which makes that commentary more relevant than it has been. On social media and on the internet, some of these cult followings have become dangerous whereas in the play it was all pretty innocent.”

Khan-Farooqi said the play also speaks to the generational divide which seems to reinvent itself every generation.

“A big part of the story is the tension between teenagers and their parents and the adults in the community, and I think that conflict is still common today,” Khan-Farooqi said. “It has not gone away since this play’s inception, and we continue to see how teenagers and adults can share viewpoints during times of rapid cultural change, which is happening in the play but is also happening today. Things are changing fast and the way parents and teens react to it is very different.”

Khan-Farooqi’s family moved to the Roaring Fork Valley from Grand Junction nine years ago when he was in third grade. He has three sisters. One of his older sisters was acting in productions and encouraged him to try out for “Madagascar Jr.” when he was 8 years old.

“Basically, she forced me into it but I ended up falling in love with it and I’ve pretty much done every show that’s been offered since.”

Khan-Farooqi said that even though he was young, he loved the sense of community he felt with theater.

“I had played some sports and saw that there were two different sides rooting against each other and I liked the way in theater everybody followed the same story, and everybody followed the same group of people. And I really appreciated the sense of community that it fostered and that regardless of what their background is, they all clap for the same people — which is something extremely powerful,” he said.

Khan-Farooqi said he will continue to pursue acting in college, but he’s interested in politics and thinks his acting skills will come in handy in that arena.

“I think a big part of the political world now is being good at acting and telling a story to an audience, whether that audience is sitting in a theater or the entirety of the United States, you’re still crafting a story and emotionally connecting to the audience,” he said. “I find that to be a driver for why I want to pursue politics. I want to find that same experience where I can bring people together on a larger scale and maybe convince them, help bring them together because now is a very divided time, and I feel like I understand how to bring divided people together.”

This weekend might be Khan-Farooqi’s final performance as an actor in high school. As he looks back, he is immeasurably grateful for what theater has done for him.

“Being a part of Theatre Aspen and the high school theater productions has had the greatest impact on me as a person, both as an actor and as a human being,” he said. “I am very appreciative to everyone that has helped me become the person that I am today and helped train me to tap dance and be empathetic towards other people. It all sort of wraps into theater, and I want to thank the people that did that for me.”