Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story comes to New Theatre Royal, Lincoln

Smash-hit musical Buddy is coming to Lincoln with the story of the tragic rock and roll star killed at a tragically young age.

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story has now been touring for more than 30 years and is still as popular as ever.

It is being staged at the New Theatre Royal from Monday to Wednesday (October 9-11).

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 in a plane crash - — alongside Richie Valens and The Big Bopper — 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.

The show also includes the Big Bopper’s Chantilly Lace and Ritchie Valens’ La Bamba, and rip-roaring versions of Shout and Johnny B. Goode.

AJ Jenks and Christopher Weeks are alternating the titular role on this latest UK tour.

Completing the cast are Joe Butcher as Joe B Mauldin, Josh Haberfield as Jerry Allison, and Miguel Angel as Ritchie Valens/Tyrone Jones. Completing the cast are Daniella Agredo Piper, Christopher Chandler, Stephanie Cremona, Samuelle Durojaiye, Jacob Leeson, Ewan Ling, Thomas Mitchells and Laura-Dene Perryman.

Writer/producer Alan Janes says: “We are so excited to be back on tour and to see our audiences – aged eight 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.”

Buddy has played a record-breaking 4,668 performances over 580 weeks on tour in the UK and Ireland, as well as 5,822 performances over 728 weeks in London’s West End.