Buddy’s buddy
Wed 31 May 2017Buddy Holly’s life may have been cut tragically short at the age of just 22, but his fame has lived on, and his music has influenced everyone from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen. It was to celebrate Holly’s lasting legacy – created in a career which spanned just eighteen months from his first hit to his tragic death – that Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story was created in 1989.
Buddy the show was in some ways as revolutionary as the man it pays tribute to. Juke box musicals, as they’ve come to be known, are commonplace now, whether they tell the story of a band (as Sunny Afternoon, seen at our theatre earlier this year does with The Kinks) or whether they use the music to tell a new story (for example Mamma Mia! which visits us this summer), but Buddy was the first major show of this type.
It’s since been seen by an impressive 22 million people worldwide, over thousands of performances – with the performers playing Buddy getting through 3,310 pairs of trousers (mainly due to knee slides across the stage!) and getting through enough plectrums to make a pile bigger than the BT Tower (211,709 for all you fact fans).
Buddy’s widow, Maria Elena Holly, says of the show: “When we opened the show we never imagined Buddy’s music and story would still be rocking stages and entertaining audiences around the world week-in week-out over 25 years later. I believe this is testament to a great show – the first of its kind – and to the enduring appeal of Buddy Holly and what he represents; a youthful energy, huge talent and creativity, combined with a determination to make a lasting impression in this world.”
Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story: Tuesday 13 – Saturday 17 June.