‘PURE UNADULTERATED FUN’
The Daily Telegraph

‘THE SHOW YOU’LL NEVER FORGET’
Daily Mail

On the back of an incredibly successful 30th year anniversary tour, smash hit rock & roll musical Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story is back in the UK in 2023. The tour opens at Basildon Towngate Theatre on Wednesday 22nd February 2023 for six performances ahead of a 40-week UK tour.

Buddy has enjoyed phenomenal success, having played a record-breaking 4668 performances over 580 weeks on tour in the UK and Ireland, as well as 5822 performances over 728 weeks in London’s West End. Buddy is one of a small number of iconic musicals including Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Miss Saigon, Evita and Cats in reaching a phenomenal three decades on stage.

Loved by critics and audiences alike, Buddy tells the enduring story of the musical icon’s meteoric rise from his Southern rockabilly beginnings to international stardom and his legendary final performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, before his tragic and untimely death at the age of just 22. In 18 short months the bespectacled boy from Lubbock, Texas, revolutionised the face of contemporary music, and would influence everyone from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones.

Boasting a multi-talented cast of actor-musicians, Buddy presents two terrific hours of music with over 20 of his greatest hits, including the timeless classics ‘That’ll Be The Day’, ‘Peggy Sue’, ‘Oh Boy’, ‘Everyday’ and ‘Rave On’. With the Big Bopper’s ‘Chantilly Lace’ and Ritchie Valens’ ‘La Bamba’, and rip-roaring versions of ‘Shout’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode’ completing a stellar musical line-up, Buddy is a not to be missed evening of family entertainment.

Writer/Producer Alan Janes says: “We are so excited to be back on tour and to see our audiences – aged 8 to 80 – dance in the aisles every night to our story of a young man whose musical career spanned an all-too-brief period, but whose music will be remembered forever.”

Since its inception, Buddy has inspired a generation of multi-million selling jukebox musicals including Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You yet remains the true original and a musical phenomenon. Seen by more than 22 million theatregoers since it opened in London’s West End in 1989, Buddy speaks an international language and continues to have audiences rockin’ in the aisles across the globe!

Casting and full tour dates to be announced in due course. The tour of Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story will open at Basildon Towngate Theatre on Wednesday 22nd February 2023 for six performances ahead of a 40-week UK tour. Tickets for Basildon go on sale from midday Friday 1st July 2022 and will be available to purchase online at towngatetheatre.co.uk or when calling the Box Office on 01268 205 300.

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story – the Years in Numbers:

• Since opening at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, in August 1989, Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, by Alan Janes, has played 580 weeks (4,668 performances) on tour in the UK, and 728 weeks (5822 performances) in London’s West End – for a total of 10,490 UK performances!

• Buddy ran in the West End for over 14 years – playing the Victoria Palace, Novello, and Duchess Theatres – making it one of the longest-running shows in London theatre history!

• Extended runs and tours have included London, the UK, Broadway, USA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Reno, Canada, Toronto, British Columbia, Australia, Sydney, New Zealand, Germany, Hamburg, South Africa, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Ireland, Japan, and Singapore

• In total our Buddy Hollys have sung 17 songs 266,794 times

• Since Buddy first began there have been 27 actors playing the title role of Buddy in the West End, on tour and on Broadway

• 3,326 pairs of trousers have had to be replaced – due to Buddy knee sliding across stages throughout the world – and 414 pairs of glasses

• The Cast album has received a Gold Disc and is ‘Buddy’ close to reaching Platinum!

• Throughout the world 13 couples have met and married while working in the company and there have been 26 Buddy babies!

For more information, images, interviews or press tickets, please contact Mel Julians: mel@goldupslane.co.uk

‘IT’S STILL BUDDY BRILLIANT’
The Sun

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