Showing Between Monday 9th and Saturday 14th February 2009 @ Hippodrome, Bristol

Don Mclean described the tragic death of Buddy Holly as; “the day the music died”, but this seems far from the truth. The Buddy Holly Story has brought his music back to life and it rocked and rolled its way onto the stage at the Bristol Hippodrome, as a part of the 50th anniversary tour commemorating Buddy’s death.

At first I didn’t know what to expect when I ran through the rain and into the Hippodrome, but as the rich red curtain heaved its way up to reveal a bunch of nerds in front of a backdrop of 1950’s advertising, I was entranced. The acting was superb, the comic timing ingenious and the music was shakin’! The talent was oozing from the stage as the cast performed with absolute ease.

The audience ‘acted’ as the crowd when Buddy and The Crickets triumphed at New York’s Apollo Theatre in Harlem, winning over an all-black audience. This was amusing for me because the audience was mostly middle-class, British (so rather stiff) and as white as the blanket of snow settling outside. But by the end of it, we had all cast off our prim and proper shackles to dance - helped perhaps by the fact that we were all disguised in the free Buddy Holly glasses that were passed about!

Mother Nature had also wanted to commemorate Buddy that evening; just like the night of Buddy’s death, a snow blizzard was raging outside the theatre as it came to an end. Still adorning my paper spec’s, I felt oddly proud to wear them as I heard Buddy’s words echo around my head; “I’m Buddy Holly and I wear the glasses!”

I advise everyone, fan’s or not, to go and see this show because The Big Bopper ‘knows how you like it.’ Get your butts down to see this one, because it just ain’t around for long!

www.buddythemusical.com

Freya Morris