‘THE SHOW YOU’LL NEVER FORGET’
Daily Mail.
‘LUDICROUSLY ENJOYABLE. EXHILARATING’
The Daily Telegraph
Mega-smash Rock & Roll musical Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story returns to the UK with dates starting to be announced for 2025/26.
Buddy – the original ‘jukebox’ musical – has enjoyed phenomenal success, playing a record-breaking 4,900 performances over 614 weeks on tour in the UK and Ireland, as well as 5,822 performances over 728 weeks in London’s West End.
Featuring a multi-talented cast of actor-musicians, Buddy presents two terrific hours of music with over 20 of Buddy Holly’s greatest hits, including such timeless classics as 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, rip-roaring versions of Shout and Johnny B. Goode, along with a couple of new additions to the show completing a stellar musical line-up, Buddy is a not-to-be-missed evening of family-friendly entertainment.
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, culminating in his legendary final performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, before his tragic and untimely death on February 3rd, 1959 at the age of just 22. This became known as ‘the Day the Music Died’ as Don McLean called it in his song American Pie. In 18 short months the bespectacled boy from Lubbock, Texas, revolutionised the face of contemporary music, and would influence everyone from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen.
Writer/Executive Producer Alan Janes says: “It really is incredible, over 35 years since we first opened, the show is back still spreading joy to every corner of the country. This is testament to a wonderful, extremely talented cast and some of the finest Rock & Roll tunes ever written by the one and only Buddy Holly.”
Buddy has inspired a generation of multi-million ticket selling jukebox musicals yet remains a true original and musical phenomenon. Seen by over 22 million theatregoers since it first opened in London’s West End in 1989, this “gem of a musical” (Daily Express) continues to have audiences dancing in the aisles across the globe!
‘IT’S STILL BUDDY BRILLIANT’
The Sun
***Stay tuned for 2025/26 venue announcements over the coming weeks***
Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story – the Years in Numbers:
• Since opening at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, in August 1989, Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story has played 614 weeks (4,900 performances) on tour in the UK, and 728 weeks (5,822 performances) in London’s West End – for a total of 10,722 UK performances!
• Buddy ran in the West End for over 14 years – playing the Victoria Palace, Strand/Novello, and Duchess Theatres – making it one of the longest-running shows in London theatre history!
• Buddy became the first West End production to tour the UK while still playing in the West End in 1991. It set a record of 243 weeks of continuous touring, or four years 35 weeks on the road!
• Buddy has been staged across five continents, including in London and the UK; Broadway and across the USA including Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Reno; Toronto, British Columbia and throughout Canada; Hamburg, Essen and Germany; Sydney and Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Japan and Singapore!
• In Germany, the Stage Theater im Hafen in Hamburg was built on land next to the river Elbe especially for Buddy, where the show played for seven years between 1994 and 2001!
• The show’s first Australian tour played Sydney’s Theatre Royal for 36 weeks before continuing throughout Australia for a further 60 weeks!
• In total our Buddy Holly’s have sung 20 songs 271,666 times!
• Since Buddy opened there have been 27 actors playing the title role of Buddy in the West End, on tour in the UK and on Broadway!
• Paul Hipp, who played Buddy Holly in both the West End and on Broadway, was nominated for a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, all in the category of Best Actor. He won the Theatre World Award!
• 3,338 pairs of trousers have been used and replaced – due to Buddy knee-sliding across stages throughout the world – and 434 pairs of glasses!
• 189,000 guitar strings have been replaced (93 miles) and over 214,000 plectrums used!
