The Buddy Holly Story Archives

A celebration of the love and power of music. With its premier in the West End in August 1989, Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story has been in production worldwide ever since, with over 10,000 performances thus giving it claim to the most successful Jukebox musical ever. The Sheffield attendees were on their feet by the end of the show and the musicianship of the cast was received with raptures by the 1400 strong Yorkshire audience. The issues Holly faced, due in part, to the American music culture of the mid 1950’s, during the 18 months his career was built are glossed over in this production as we see his meteoric rise to global stardom. All is very positive and ‘happy’ and we are presented with a young man who just wanted his rock ‘n’ roll music heard, Holly ‘never wanted’ to be the cou...

Paul McCartney remarked that without Buddy Holly there would have been no Beatles, so it’s no wonder his short but rich creative life was one of the first jukebox musicals. Unlike many jukebox musicals who bolt on ludicrous storylines to shoehorn the hits in, Alan Janes’ book is a straight run from his early days in Lubbock Texas as he rejects the country music establishment to become one of first rock and roll stars who wrote his own smash hit songs. And what tunes he wrote in a white hot eighteen months of creativity before his untimely death aged only 22. Listen to the pure pop energy of Peggy Sue and you can see what Macca meant, or the delicate beauty of Raining In My Heart hinting at what might have been if he’d not boarded that fateful flight with Big Bopper and Richie Valens...

Tag: The Buddy Holly Story

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story – Sheffield Lyceum

The Buddy Holly Story – Alhambra Theatre Bradford