Redwood High School’s Bye Bye Birdie cast shares excitement and nerves as they prepare for upcoming performance

By: Miles Largoza

Rehearsal for Redwood’s Bye Bye Birdie began and will be performed February 2nd-4th. However, with theatre troubles along the way, some of the actors have been overheard feeling nervous about their upcoming performances. To see how the actors really felt, we interviewed some of the lead cast.

Alyssa Sozinho, ’23, who plays Rose Alvarez(Albert Peterson’s secretary/fiance), says, “We have enough time to prepare. Some of my castmates and I have been practicing together at my house and we all put in a ton of time on our own”. She also says that she has a “powerhouse team of directors to help us as well.”

Sozinho is a 4-year musical member, who has performed in Footloose, Shrek, and Wizard of Oz for Redwood, along with many musicals through other theater companies.

Ashlyn West, ’23, who plays Deborah Sue(a friend of Kim McAffee), has been in Redwood’s Wizard of Oz, Shrek, and Footloose.

With the performances soon approaching, she says that she is excited to “see our hard work come together.” West says that the “cast is like one big family” and the “show is strengthening every day.”

Raul Arredondo, ’23, who plays Conrad Birdie, the main character of the musical, feels that there is plenty of time. He says that “Everyone in Bye Bye Birdie has put in so much work, and we have a week which makes it great for us to be able to perfect the story of Bye Bye Birdie.”

Arredondo has acted in musicals since middle school, performing in Beauty in the Beast, High School Musical, Little Mermaid, and Footloose.

“Tech week” has just began for the theater program, in which they began moving props and finalizing the technical aspects of Bye Bye Birdie, perfecting the performance before it reaches an audience.

Overall, Sozinho says that “This will be a show no one wants to miss. It’s an entertaining and comical show about the 1950s and we keep it true to the time period.”

Miles Largoza

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Miles Largoza '23, is a journalist for the Redwood Gigantea. He enjoys the performing arts. Outside the Gigantea he can be found gaming and taking photos.