Review: ‘Buddy Holly Story’ a Terrific Ode to Rock Legend
“Oh Boy!”
Not only is that the name of one of the late Buddy Holly’s hits, it was also my reaction when I saw that “Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story” would last about 95 minutes without intermission, but contain over two dozen musical numbers.
Fitting all that music into the Marriott Theatre’s production in Lincolnshire – while having a plot that would provide a full biography of the mid-1950s rock ’n’ roll icon – seemed like an impossible task. As it turns out, I was right: this true jukebox musical by Alan Janes doesn’t delve deeply into Holly’s life, choosing instead to let the audience just sit back and enjoy the music with only brief glimpses into the details of the last few years of a life tragically cut short.
The good news is that the audience – including this reviewer – loved the music, the humor and the masterful performance of Kieran McCabe as Holly. You truly believe the spirit of Buddy is coming through in every aspect of McCabe’s portrayal, especially his vocals, ambition and charm.
“Buddy” was on Broadway from November 1990 to May 1991, garnering one Tony Award nomination (for its lead actor, Paul Hipp). While director/choreographer Amber Mak’s production in Lincolnshire isn’t eligible for Tony Awards, I expect that at least Mak and McCabe may receive Jefferson Award nominations for this crowd-pleaser that had both young and older audience members clapping during and after musical numbers like “Peggy Sue,” “That’ll Be the Day” and “Oh Boy!”
The plot focuses on the last three years of Holly’s life, starting in January 1956, as Holly and the other members of The Crickets band move up from Sunday morning appearances on a radio station in Lubbock, Texas, to a contract with Decca Records in Nashville. That’s where Holly’s desire to do rock ’n’ roll clashes with the country music-focused Decca (“That’ll Be the Day” prompts one exec to call it the “worst song I have ever had the pleasure of recording”).
By early 1957, The Crickets are in Clovis, New Mexico, partnering with producer Norman Petty (played here by frequent Marriott actor Alex Goodrich) to create a hit version of “That’ll Be the Day,” along with “Everyday” and other tunes. A subsequent concert tour takes them all the way to New York City, where the all-white band’s appearance at the Black-centric Apollo Theater (Marcus Terell and Melanie Brezill doing a show-stopping version of “Shout” in the Marriott production) is initially met with derision and skepticism, but eventually wins over the Apollo performers and audience members.
It’s in New York in 1958 that Holly has a fateful day, meeting music publisher receptionist Maria Elena Santiago (Molly Hernandez), asking her out, and – after five hours of dating – successfully proposing marriage.
Of course, a much more fateful day came in early February 1959, when Holly, Ritchie Valens (“La Bamba”) and J.P. Richardson – aka The Big Bopper (“Chantilly Lace”) – share a plane after a Clear Lake, Iowa, concert headed to the next stop on their Winter Dance Party tour. In this musical, both Valens (Jordan Arredondo) and Richardson (David Stobbe) are seen performing their big hits at the concert. The plane crashed into a cornfield shortly after takeoff. All three performers and their pilot perished. Holly was 22; Richardson was 28; Valens was only 17. It became known as “The Day The Music Died” thanks to Don McLean’s early ’70s song “American Pie.”
“Buddy” begins with a radio DJ doing a tribute to Holly after that tragedy, then flashing back to Holly’s short-lived success. The closing moments of the musical allow for some sadness, but then follows a rousing reminder of the joy of rock ’n’ roll with a Chuck Berry song performed by the entire cast that you know will – pun intended – “B. Goode.”
McCabe as Holly is clearly the star here, but he’s surrounded by some very talented actor/singers. In fact, music director Matt Deitchman has 11 of his 13 actors playing instruments during the show, including Jed Feder as Cricket Jerry Allison playing drums and electric guitar; Stobbe on the trombone; Christopher Wren playing the saxophone and guitar; Shaun Whitley as Cricket Joe Maudlin on upright bass, electric bass and violin; and Michael Kurowski, recently seen in “Big Fish” at the Marriott, here portraying the “fourth Cricket” playing the upright bass, electric bass and electric guitar.
Cory Goodrich and Ellie Kahn round out the ensemble. They and the rest of the cast (except McCabe) get to play multiple memorable characters. There’s so much talent here that when it comes to my concern about too little plot, well, as Buddy would say, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” So get tickets and go with your buddy to a far-from-“Everyday” kind of show.
