| Buddy The Buddy Holly Story |
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Original Cast Recording |
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| Music | Songs recorded by Buddy Holly |
| Book | Alan Janes |
| Productions | 1989 West End 1990 Broadway 2007 West End Revival |
Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story is a jukebox musical in two acts with a book written by Alan Janes, and music and lyrics by a variety of songwriters. Based on the life and career of early rock and roller Buddy Holly, the musical hews closer to Holly's actual life story than the 1978 film version. One of the first so-called "jukebox musicals," the show consists mostly of the songs of Holly and other early rockers.
The musical was conceived by Londoner Laurie Mansfield, who pitched the idea to film producer Greg Smith and writer Alan Janes in 1988. Paul Elliot, a West End producer took on the project, and support from Paul McCartney (who owned the copyrights to Holly's music and objected to inaccuracies in the movie) ensured the show's creation. Opening in 1989, the musical initially ran in London's West End for over 12 years, and also had a brief Broadway production, with numerous subsequent tours and productions continuing to run around the world.
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The West End production, with Paul Hipp as Holly and directed by Rob Bettinson, opened on 12 October 1989, at the Victoria Palace Theatre, where it remained for six years before transferring to the Strand Theatre.[1] It ran for another six years and five months for a total of more than 5,000 performances until 3 March 2002, making it one of the longest-running musicals in London history. Later in the run, Chip Esten played Holly.
Two London cast albums were released, an original cast recording in 1989, and a live recording made during a performance at the Strand Theatre in 1995. Both were released on the First Night label.[2].
After a Toronto tryout and 15 previews, the Broadway production, also directed by Bettinson and starring Hipp, opened on November 4, 1990, at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for 225 performances. Jill Hennessey played a number of roles, including Holly's wife Maria Elena.
The show has also toured extensively throughout the UK and U.S.A., as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Holland, Finland, Ireland, Japan, and Singapore.[3] A 27-city U.S. tour was mounted in 2000, and tours were mounted in the UK in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011.[4]
A U.S. West Coast production, directed by Stephen Moorer and starring Travis Poelle, opened on June 6, 2003, at the Golden Bough Playhouse in Carmel, California, moving to San Jose on August 13, playing at the San Jose Stage. The success of the production led to a revival, beginning on June 8, 2004, at the Post St. Theatre in San Francisco, garnering positive reviews[5] and Bay Area Critics' awards for Best Musical, Best Ensemble, and Best Actor in a Musical (Travis Poelle).[6] Maria Elena Holly attended the show at each location, dancing onstage with the cast at curtain call.[7] This production later returned to Carmel for several runs, most recently in 2008.
The West End London revival opened on August 3, 2007, at The Duchess Theatre where it ran until 7 February 2009 ensuring that the 50th Anniversary of Holly's death was honoured on 3 February with a special performance incorporating several new numbers for that one night. This version, directed again by Rob Bettinson, is scaled down from its previous incarnations, and the role of Buddy Holly was equally shared by Dean Elliott and Matthew Wycliffe, who played the role in the 2007 UK touring company[8]. Ritchie Valens was played by Puerto Rican actor Miguel Angel, and J.P. Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) by actor Lee Ormsby. The 50th Anniversary Tour played concurrently across the UK and starred Oliver Seymour-Marsh and Glen Joseph as Buddy, with Chris Redmond and Dan Graham as the Crickets.
Wycliffe and Elliott later reprised their role as Buddy in Lubbock - Buddy Holly's hometown - in 2009, in a production staged by Lubbock Moonlight Musicals [9].
To commemorate 50 years since the Day the Music Died, an Australian tour was also mounted, opening at Star City's Lyric Theatre in Sydney on February 3, 2009, and starring Scott Cameron as Buddy, Luke Tonkin as the Big Bopper and Flip Simmons as Ritchie Valens. In attendance at the opening night were Bob Montgomery and Peggy Sue Gerron.
The first UK fringe production Upstairs at the Gatehouse was produced by Ovation Theatres in spring 2010, featuring Roger Rowley as Buddy Holly (who went on to share the lead role in the 2011 UK tour[10]) and Jos Slovick (Spring Awakening) as Ritchie Valens.
"Buddy", as the show is often abbreviated to, is currently touring the United Kingdom in 2011, with Buddy being played by both Glen Joseph and Roger Rowley, with Steve Dorsett as the Big Bopper and Miguel Angel as Ritchie Valens.
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In Lubbock, Texas, 19 year old Buddy Holly is an up and coming country music singer. He and his two friends, Joe and Jerry (The Crickets), want to experiment with the new and controversial style of music called rock 'n roll. They struggle for a time in Texas and then in Nashville, where producers want Buddy to record country and western music, ignoring Buddy's pleas to "do it his way". The escalating argument almost results in a fist fight between Buddy and the Decca producer, thus ending Buddy's Decca relationship. Hipockets Duncan, a local DJ and friend of Buddy's, knowing that Buddy is frustrated, puts him in contact with an up and coming Producer who will let him play "his music, his way."
A contract with pioneering record producer Norman Petty results in a string of hits, including the 1957 hits "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue" (the latter a last-minute change of title from "Cindy Lou" at the behest of the group's drummer). The group then appears at the Apollo Theater in Harlem (where theater musicians and audience are mistakenly expecting a black group), resulting in The Crickets being the first white group to perform there, where they are enthusiastically received.
Following these successes, The Crickets begin to record in New York City, where Buddy meets and impulsively marries Puerto Rican record publisher receptionist Maria Elena Santiago.
After a break-up with the Crickets, Buddy starts a solo career, leading to his being signed as one of the headliners on the 1959 "Winter Dance Party". Fed up with the terrible Midwestern weather and tired of traveling by tour bus, 22-year-old Holly breaks a promise to his pregnant wife not to fly. Following a February 2, 1959 concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, he and two other stars, the Big Bopper and young Ritchie Valens (a last minute replacement for another musician), depart on a small plane during a blizzard, a fateful decision that places them in musical history books in an unexpected and tragic way.
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West End Revival
London Production
Broadway Production
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