uddy - the Buddy Holly Story, Spotlight Amateur Musical Group, Beccles Public Hall until Saturday 28th June.

On February 3rd, 1959, the man who changed the face of popular music tragically died in a plane crash aged 22. This musical tells the story of the three years in which Buddy Holly became the world’s top recording artist. I may have only been very young at the time of his death, and most of the cast not born, but who can’t sing along to “That’ll be the Day”, “Peggy Sue” or “Oh Boy”, just three of his great songs?

The award- winning musical is now in its 19th year and 20 million people have seen the show, but until my trip to Beccles I was not one of them!

This was the East Anglian amateur premiere. Would the audience be up and rocking in the aisles? Could an amateur company have enough talented, young and lively cast members who could sing and play instruments to pull off the challenge of Buddy?

Well, yes they could, although it took a while on the first night for the magic to work. The problem is that this is really a one-man show and although Spotlight had found a talented Buddy Holly, in the form of guitar-playing Ian Cook, and some great Crickets for his backing band, the full company are only on stage at the beginning and the end of the musical.

Much of the first half of the play is set in a recording studio as Buddy and the Crickets gave us tantalising snatches of some of their hits. It was when Mark Anthony’s stage presence (as a singer at the Apollo Theatre) lit up the stage that feet really began to tap.  

In the second half, Andy Osborne (as The Big Bopper) and  Spencer Botly (as Ritchie Valens) joined Buddy to perform what was to be their final concert, the full cast came to dance in the aisles and a few members of the audience were brave enough to join in. The glitter ball began to rotate above jiving couples wearing teddy boy suits, big petticoats etc and it was the 1950’s in the Beccles Public Hall again.

The music was great ( 27 Rock and Roll hits) but the small stage did present challenges to the stage crew with recording studio, drum kit, sofa and much more to be manhandled on and off.

The Spotlight Musical Theatre Group were brave to try something new and rose to the challenge well, but this musical doesn’t give the full company the chance to shine… however I was singing the songs all the way home!

Rachel Sloane
June 26th 2008

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