The Buddy Holly Story Review - Congress Theatre Eastbourne

Ryan was invited to the press night of ‘Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story’ at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre. The West End and Broadway smash-hit has been touring since 1989 and is in Eastbourne until Saturday 23rd September. 

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 in London’s West End. Celebrating over 30 years, 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 to reach a spectacular three decades on stage.

Whether you are a fan of Buddy Holly or not, rock & roll wouldn’t exist without Buddy Holly. This show will have you tapping your feet and clapping along to many of Buddy’s famous tracks. A high energy show with upbeat tempos telling the story of Buddy’s career and his rise to fame before his tragic death in a plane crash in 1959

In Act one, the stage is set as a Radio station before later transforming to a recording studio. We meet Buddy Holly and The Crickets, starting out on their local radio station and their journey to getting a contract. We get an insight to his creative processes and how he created many of his hit songs including That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Everyday and many more. The end of act one we relive his famous performance at Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York.

Act 2 is a re-creation of Buddy Holly’s final gig at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 3 1959. We are transported to this glittering ball room where Buddy played on stage with The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.

You can expect to sing along to iconic tracks such as La Bamba, Chantilly Lace and JohnnyB. Goode. This was the unfortunate night all three singers died in a plane crash, with Buddy at the tragic young age of just 22.

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story Theatre show is simply fantastic. You could feel the whole audience embrace the energy coming from the stage and it certainly appealed to both young and old

Tickets are available from Eastbourne Theatres Box Office website:- .www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk