Bye Bye Birdie Remake With Vanessa Williams Streams Free Now
The 1995 TV remake of the classic musical Bye Bye Birdie has now been released for free streaming in the US and Canada! The film will be released today and available to stream for the next two months. Directed by Gene Saks and based on the 1960 stage musical, the film features an all-star cast including Jason Alexander, Vanessa Williams, Tyne Daly, and Marc Kudisch. Bye Bye Birdie was produced by RHI Entertainment and released by ABC for the holiday season of 1995. Here's how to stream Bye Bye Birdie now: Bye Bye Birdie tells the story of Albert Peterson (Jason Alexander), an unlikely Brill Building manager, who panics at the thought that his only moneymaker, rocker Conrad Birdie (Marc Kudisch) is about to enlist to the Army. When Albert’s girlfriend, Rosie (Vanessa Williams), comes up with the idea that Conrad will sing one last song - “One Last Kiss" - in front of a national audience, kissing Kim MacAfee (Chynna Phillips) goodbye, a huge Birdie fan from Middle America. With the song's success guranteed, Albert will be able to marry Rosie and go back to college to become an English teacher. The 1995 remake is now available to stream in the US and Canada - a direct link can now be found in our list of free streaming musicals and our Bye Bye Birdie page. The 1995 TV film won the 1996 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics, and was nominated for Outstanding Music Direction and Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special. In his review for Variety, Jeremy Gerard said: "'Birdie' made stars of Dick Van Dyke and director/choreographer Gower Champion. But it sounded taps for the golden age of the musical and smartly if unwittingly, fingered the assassin: rock ‘n’ roll. Broadway would soon be replaced by concert venues and recording studios as the main sources of pop music. The freshman songwriting team of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams made Conrad a smarmy lout and gave him two mild rock parodies (“Honestly Sincere” and “One Last Kiss”). The score also boasted several above-average, if thoroughly conventional, Broadway songs, of which the best known (thanks mostly to the 1963 movie with Van Dyke and newcomer Ann-Margret) are Albert’s “Put on a Happy Face” and “Rosie,” Kim and Conrad’s “A Lot of Livin’ to Do” and the father’s 'Kids.'"