Review: BUDDY, THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY at BDT Stage

Like any other generational art form, music holds a sense of time within it's very being. When you press play on a playlist of hits from every decade, you can easily be transported from 2022 to any previous period of time. At BDT Stage, we are taken all the way back to the 1950s in Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story.

Generally speaking, I know when I see a show at BDT Stage I am in good hands. To that degree, the same is true for this production. There are plenty of company staples scattered through the cast - among them Bob Hoppe, Alicia K. Meyers, Scott Severtson, Anna Maria High and Tracey Warren - that will not only take care of you as guests but as patrons of "the theatre." Directed by another BDT staple, Wayne Kennedy, the production is put together nicely and the music offers a trip down memorly lane for some and a glimpse of the past for others. Brett Ambler as the titular Buddy Holly also brings a playful energy to the role, though I can't vie to his likeness to the 17 year old character reference. Nevertheless, his musicianship was the greatest contribution to the role.

My real issues are with the show itself. It is a rather white-bread story told through tunnel-vision. At this point, there are at least a dozen, if not more, biopic musicals that follow a single artist. But the best ones are more well-rounded in that there is more of a story to present with more contirbuting characters. First and foremost - Black people made rock and roll. There are even moments in the script where Buddy is compared to "those colored groups." But if he is being compared to these groups and people, why don't we actually get to meet them? Where is Ray Charles? Where is Little Richard? Where are The Teenagers? The script also misses a great opportunity to present an authentic relationship with Buddy Holly and his other bandmates. The characters (which also double as his actual bandmates) are always there and yet remain ancillary the entire time. That being said, you can trust that BDT Stage will always showcase their strength - the people. The cast is a tight ensemble even with the vanilla softserve source material.

Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story runs at BDT Stage through January 28, 2023.

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