The show also became a popular choice for high school and college productions due to its variable cast size and large proportion of ensemble numbers.

Stewart's first draft, Love and Kisses, focused on a couple thinking of divorce whose children persuade them to stay together, a theme soon taken up by the Disney film, The Parent Trap.

After brainstorming, Stewart and Adams "came up with the idea of a rock-and-roll singer going off to the Army and its effect on a group of teenagers in a small town in Ohio.

Albert's secretary, Rose "Rosie" Alvarez, comes up with a last-ditch publicity stunt to have Birdie record and perform a song before he is sent overseas.

In Sweet Apple, Ohio, all the teenagers are catching up on the latest gossip about 15-year-old Kim MacAfee and Hugo Peabody going steady ("The Telephone Hour").

Soon, tabloid reporters arrive with questions about the seedy details of Conrad's personal life, but Rosie, Albert and the girls answer for him, hoping to protect his reputation and bankability ("Normal American Boy").

Despite plans to re-film the broadcast, Rosie and Kim resolve to leave Albert and Hugo, lamenting their stupidity for having fallen in love ("What Did I Ever See in Him?").

Conrad, with no visible effects from being knocked out, decides he wants to go out and have a good time on his last night as a civilian, and encourages the Sweet Apple teens to party ("A Lot of Livin' to Do").

Rosie ends up at Maude's Roadside Retreat and starts flirting with other men, but Albert phones her and begs her to return to him ("Baby, Talk to Me").

Albert tells Rosie they're not going back to New York; they're going to Pumpkin Falls, Iowa, a small town in need of a (married) English teacher.

During pre-production, Chita Rivera took the role of Rosie after both Carol Haney and Eydie Gormé turned it down, and the character's last name was changed from "Grant" to "Alvarez".

[8] Replacements during the run included Gene Rayburn as Albert and Gretchen Wyler as Rosie, both of whom joined the cast on April 9, 1961.

[10] After a two-and-a-half-week pre-run tryout at the Manchester Opera House,[11] the show opened in London's West End at Her Majesty's Theatre in June 1961, with Peter Marshall as Albert, Rivera reprising her role as Rosie, Angela Baddeley as Mae and Marty Wilde as Conrad Birdie.

[12] A U.S. tour from mid-1990 through June 1991 starred Tommy Tune as Albert, Ann Reinking as Rosie, Marc Kudisch as Conrad, Marcia Lewis as Mrs. Peterson, Steve Zahn as Hugo, and Susan Egan as Kim.

staged concert production ran in May 2004, with Karen Ziemba as Rosie, Daniel Jenkins as Albert, Jessica Grové as Kim, and Bob Gaynor as Conrad.

[16] From June 7-15, 2024, a new production was produced at the Kennedy Center, directed by Marc Bruni, and starring Christian Borle as Albert, Krysta Rodriguez as Rosie, Ephraim Sykes as Conrad, and Richard Kind as Harry MacAfee.

[19] Due to poor advance sales after the departures of lead actors John Stamos and Gina Gershon's contracts, the closing date was moved up by three months to January 24.

It starred Dick Van Dyke reprising his stage role as a slightly rewritten Albert Peterson, Maureen Stapleton as Mama Mae Peterson, Janet Leigh as Rosie, Paul Lynde reprising his stage role as Mr. MacAfee, Bobby Rydell as Hugo Peabody, and Ann-Margret as Kim MacAfee.

The film is credited with making Ann-Margret a superstar during the mid-1960s, leading to her appearing with the real Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas (1964).

Albert is not Birdie's agent but a talented research chemist who is struggling as a songwriter only to please his mother, who is overbearing and insensitive, but not racist as in the musical.

Conrad is not arrested, but Hugo knocks him out with a single punch "live" on The Ed Sullivan Show and wins Kim's heart.

Thus, there is no necessity for Albert to bail Conrad out of jail and arrange for him to sneak out of town dressed as a middle-aged woman, presumably so he can report for Army induction as scheduled.

Van Dyke and other members of the Broadway production were unhappy with the film adaptation due to the focus shift to Kim.

"[27][better source needed] Susan Watson, who created the role of Kim on Broadway, later said, "Anyone who likes the film didn't see the show.

[35] On March 2, 2018, it was announced that the production had been pushed back once again, this time to 2019 at the earliest due to Lopez's busy schedule and the producers focusing on Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.

[38] In 1981, there was a short-lived Broadway sequel, Bring Back Birdie, starring Donald O'Connor and returning original cast member Chita Rivera.

John Champman of the New York Daily News called it "the funniest, most captivating, and most expert musical comedy one could hope to see ... the show is pure, plain musical comedy, with jokes, dancing, oddball costumes ... exceptionally catching orchestrations ... and a completely enthusiastic cast."

"[40] In the New York Daily Mirror, Robert Coleman wrote that "Edward Padula put over a sleeper in the Broadway sweepstakes, and it's going to pay off in big figures ... Rivera explodes like a bomb over West 45th Street.

Michael Stewart has penned a sassy and fresh book, while Lee Adams and Charles Strouse have matched it with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and music.

"[40] New York Herald Tribune critic Walter Kerr praised Gower Champion's direction but criticized the libretto and score, stating that "Mr. Champion has been very much responsible for the gayety (sic), the winsomeness, and the exuberant zing of the occasion ... he has not always been given the very best to work with ... every once in a while, Michael Stewart's book starts to break down and cry ... Lee Adams's lyrics lean rather heavily on the new "talk-out-the-plot" technique, and Charles Strouse's tunes, though jaunty, are whisper-thin.