Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story
- Written By Alan Janes
- Music and lyrics by various
- Directed by Rob Bettinson
Main Players/Characters
Craig Urbani
Buddy Holly Mark Heenehan
Hipockets Duncan Stephen Pallister
Joe Mauldin Guy James
Jerry Allison David Allman
Norman Petty, others Claire Carpenter
Vi Petty, others Scott Fleming
Fourth Cricket, others Diana Croft
Maria Elena, others John-Simon Rawlings
The Big Bopper, others Alex Paez
Richie Valens, others Justin Butcher
Dion, others Alison Porter
Peggy Sue, others Andrea Turner
Candy, others Plot Summary
This musical is a biography of Buddy Holly, from his struggling teenage days in Texas, where his brand of rock 'n' roll didn't sit well with the country music lovers of the area, to his climb to national success, to his tragic death in a plane crash. The show ends with the "last concert" that he performed.
Songs
- Rose of Texas
- Flower of My Heart/Ready Teddy
- That'll Be the Day
- Rock Around with Ollie Vee
- Everyday
- Good Times
- Party
- True Love
- Not Fade Away
- Peggy Sue
- Words of Love
- Oh Boy
- Star Spangled Banner
- Why Do Fools Fall in Love
- Chantilly Lace
- Maybe Baby
- Peggy Sue Got Married
- Heartbeat
- La Bamba
- Raining in My Heart
- It Doesn't Matter Anymore
- Rave On
- True Love Ways
- Hi-Pockets' Tribute
- Johnny B. Goode
- Encore Introduction
- Encore: Oh Boy
Awards
None that I'm aware of.
Evaluation
I saw this show a couple of years ago when it passed through Denver. I enjoyed it thoroughly; it was a high-energy production, and I'd forgotten how good Buddy Holly's music was. Everyone I know who saw it also enjoyed it. The plot was rather cursory--I was hoping for an in-depth examination of Buddy Holly's career, but the show moved from one incident to another with little concern for anything except the songs. (The one sour note was a product placement in the little program they passed out and on the set; I HATE HATE HATE product placements, especially in musicals, where they absolutely do not belong.) Still, I would probably see it again if the opportunity arose.
Having said that, I will now say that this CD, recorded live at the Strand Theatre in London, was an enormous disappointment. The problem is that almost no dialogue was recorded, and obviously, the songs don't reflect the plot, so as far as a listener is concerned, you're just hearing a "live Buddy Holly concert" with no indication that a story is taking place. Which begs the question: why bother? If this is just an imitation of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and other songs, why not get the real thing? I think more than a few people asked themselves this, since I found a bunch of these discs at a used CD store. The songs are competently done, but that's not the point.
I see no need to talk about the individual performers, since no one except Mark Heenehan does any acting on this disc; they just sing. They sing well, but mere singing is not why I listen to musicals. Oh, wait, there's a bit when Craig Urbani nervously introduces the Crickets at the Apollo Theater.
CD Packaging
This is one of the most useless booklets I've encountered. It has a cast list in order of appearance, a song list, technical credits, and a short letter from Laurie Mansfield, who apparently came up with the idea to do this show. (It had already been running for seven years in London when this letter was written in 1996.) No plot summary, no sense of who the important characters are besides Buddy, no composer credits, nothing.
Summary
As a hardcore fan of musical theatre, I've lost interest in listening to most standard pop CDs--that is, collections of unconnected songs. I surely won't be listening to Buddy much, because it is, frankly, boring. As a live show, Buddy was a lot of fun. As a CD, it's basically worthless, unless you like soundalike cover versions of oldies or want a live Buddy Holly/Big Bopper/Richie Valens/Dion/etc. concert. Recording some of the dialogue (or, geez, even providing a lousy plot summary!) would have given this CD a bit more reason for being, at least for musical fans. Unless you saw the show and want the disc to reminisce by, I strongly recommend getting a real Buddy Holly disc if the show gave you a taste for his music.
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