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Buddy – the Buddy Holly Story
Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
**** THIS musical about the all-too-brief life
and times of rock ‘n’ roll star Buddy Holly keeps coming round and
always attracts enthusiastic audiences who clearly loved the man. On opening night the customers frequently joined
in the many hit songs in a show that is a little stop-go in the first
act but ends with a blistering performance from the cast in what was
Holly’s last concert, at the Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa in February
1959. It’s then that Glen
Joseph, playing Buddy, really turns it on with much loved songs like
Peggy Sue, Heartbeat
and It
Doesn’t Matter Anymore, while Thomas
Mitchells (The Big Bopper) and Jordan Cunningham (Ritchie Valens) join
in with Maybe Baby. Chantilly Lace
and La Bamba. Tragically, the trio died in a plane crash after
heading off for another venue, but their music lives on. There is more of a friendly school teacher than
rock star in Joseph’s appearance, but that is perfect because Buddy, in
those black, horn-rimmed glasses, had a bit of a geeky look about him
and once, during his short career lasting less than two years, he was
told ‘You’ve got less sex appeal than a telegraph pole’. He rejected a suggestion that he should dispense
with his specs , was the first performer to wear glasses and the first
rock ‘n’ roller to write his own songs, and what joy they still bring. A
great legacy from a musician who died too soon, aged 22. One of the most amusing parts of the show comes
when Buddy and his band, The Crickets, appear at the Apollo Theatre in
New York’s Harlem district where the audience thought they were going to
see a black band, but it turns into a triumph. Less enjoyable, even
irritating, is the scene where they are in a recording studio and stage
lights are repeatedly switched off to suggest moving on in time. There are touching moments between Buddy and
Maria Elena (Kerry Low) the girl he proposes to minutes after meeting
her and who, after they marry, has a terrible premonition about the
fatal air crash. Oh Boy, it’s good. Directed by Matt Salisbury, Buddy plays on to
04-02-17. Paul Marston 31-01-17 |
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