Silly and fun, ‘Birdie’ is enjoyable Super Summer Theatre show

“Bye Bye Birdie” is one of the sillier of Broadway musicals, but with songs as infectiously likable as “Put On a Happy Face” it remains a perennial audience favorite. It is a good choice for a picnic under the stars at Super Summer Theatre at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.

Based on the national teen hysteria that resulted when the real life idol Elvis Presley was drafted in 1957, the musical relegates the Elvis-inspired role of Conrad Birdie to that of a dance lead and instead centers the plot on secretary Rosie Alvarez’s thwarted love for Conrad’s manager, Albert Peterson.

Though Rosie wants nothing more than to shuck the music business and settle into domestic bliss with Albert (“It is 1959,” Albert deadpans at one point to the audience), she is the one who comes up with the brilliant marketing plan to have Conrad bestow one last kiss on a lucky girl selected from his nationwide fan club of teeny-boppers on “The Ed Sullivan Show” before being whisked off to boot camp.

The teen Cinderella chosen from millions is Kim McAfee, a 15-year-old from Sweet Apple, Ohio. Ellie Smith reprises the role that made Ann-Margret a star in the film version of the play. With her stunningly beautiful voice and charming vivacity, Smith can scarcely avoid stealing the show. One could only wish that Super Summer Theatre might produce a musical with greater weight than “Birdie” to showcase her talents.

Fortunately for the show’s balance, director Troy Heard cast the equally amazing Amanda Kraft as Rosie, a role that requires the kind of Broadway belting that Kraft does with ease without ever slipping into caterwauling.

Heard, of Table 8 Productions, shows that he is as capable of tackling mainstream Broadway shows as he is at staging experimental, immersive theater.

As dated as some of the play’s material is — there are Kennedy jokes — one motif is as contemporary as a leading candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination: Albert’s mother, Mae, spews a continuous stream of Hispanic immigrant jokes at Rosie.

Apparently this material found its way into the show by the accident of Chita Rivera being cast as the character on Broadway. Heard contextualizes the potentially offensive jokes through the bitterly satirical “Spanish Rose,” which Kraft delivers as an Act 2 showstopper.

Andee Gibbs plays the guilt-tripping mother Mae as pure shtick but she does it so well it is still funny.

Cory Benway’s Albert is an amusing schmuck and he delivers the show’s hit, “Put On a Happy Face,” with pleasant charm. Likewise, playing the platonic form of all hapless television dads, Mickey Roark as Mr. McAfee is perfect in “Kids.”

Deylan Dean makes his professional debut as Conrad Birdie and he gives us so much more than an Elvis caricature. Though his voice was not the strongest on the stage in “Birdie,” he had a quality that was as individual as a rock star’s.

Despite the deliberately insipid lyrics to Conrad’s songs, Dean delivered them so sexily that it was easy to believe the rapture of his screaming teeny-bopper fans. Though his physique is on the skinny side, Dean gave Conrad a swagger that was worthy of “The Pelvis” himself.

Marissa McCoy as Ursula Merkle, the head of Conrad’s fan club, was a standout in the marvelous ensemble piece, “The Telephone Hour.”

Greg Kata’s choreography was exciting and well executed by leads and ensemble. Of particular note was dance captain Kady Heard as the blond bimbo Gloria Rasputin. She dances badly with the skill of a prima ballerina. Amanda Kraft’s acrobatics with a group of Shriners was one of the funniest pieces in the show.

Scenic designer Steve Paladie uses Ben-Day dots to create a comic book background appropriate to ’50s pop culture. Musical direction was by Dolly Coulter.