Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959, in an airplane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa along with Ritchie Valens and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse (TMP) just opened their rendition of the play, The Buddy Holly Story. It is a musical bursting with the songs many of us grew up with during the 1950s age of Rock N’ Roll.
While I am not a theatrical critic, last Sunday, as I sat in the front row watching the musical, I was the only “patron of the arts”, heh, heh, who took written notes throughout the duration of the performance.
The theater was packed with an enthusiastic audience. Jubilant comes to mind.
Now I feel compelled to use a word I may overuse in my writing. The word is amazing. If I overuse the word, it is because I only have an 84-word vocabulary.
Yes, TMP’s Buddy is amazing for a number of reasons.
AMAZING #1: TMP’s cast, crew, and management discovered, just before opening night on Friday, February 3, 2017, that February 3 was precisely the 58th anniversary of Buddy’s death.
Call it amazing. Call it eerie. Call it psychic. All I can tell you is that it happened, and it was not planned.
AMAZING #2: Not once did I have that familiar guy feeling most guys get when they take a gal to a play, especially a musical.
Guys, you know what I am talking about. “How can it be that it has only been 10 minutes since the play started? Why did I say, ‘Yes’? How much longer do we have to sit here before intermission? Should I fake a myocardial infarction during the intermission to facilitate my escape? Is it possible I might enjoy slamming the garage door on my head more than attending a theatrical performance?”
Gals, you know what I am talking about. Your guy starts out yawning followed by squirming in his seat. He falls asleep and then snores so loudly you can’t hear the actors. The snoring stops only after the guy falls out of his seat wedging his head between the two people sitting in front of him.
Amazing. None of that happened during this play. I did not want the actors to stop doing what they were doing. I felt guilty having more fun than any guy is supposed to have during a play.
AMAZING #3: Before sitting down I asked myself, “How are they going to tell Buddy’s story?” TMP accomplsihed their story telling in an amazing fashion. The story thread takes us through Buddy forming his band (The Crickets), his experience working inside the music industry, falling in love, being cheated by his music producer and the plane crash. The plane crash was depicted in a breathtakingly amazing fashion. I will not tell you how because I do not want to spoil it for you.
AMAZING #4: TMP included some laugh out loud verbal and physical humor in their production.
AMAZING #5: The history behind the song title, Peggy Sue, was, shall I say, amazing.
AMAZING #6: Hipockets Dunton, the radio announcer, and Buddy Holly are played by father and son, George McClure and Matt McClure respectively.
AMAZING #7: All the actors on stage were obviously having so much fun. After the final bows, the audience was treated to meeting the actors in a receiving line.
AMAZING #8: Buddy Holly wanted to play his music his way, because “that is what the kids in his audiences wanted to hear.” Buddy led the way for Rock N’ Roll by overcoming serious music industry pressure to conform to what the music moguls thought he should be doing in terms of genre, style and sound.
AMAZING #9: Buddy was color blind. Elvis made black music more acceptable to white audiences. On August 16 – 22, 1957, Buddy and the Crickets became the first white band to play in the black historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, Based on Buddy’s sound, the promoter assumed that Buddy and the Crickets were black when he booked them into the Apollo. Buddy did not care about color. He cared about music.
Because Buddy was color blind, he enjoyed the freedom to be able to fall in love and marry Maria Elena Santiago who was of Puerto Rican descent.
Buddy’s color blindness made the world a better place.
AMAZING #10: Originally it was planned that Buddy, Ritchie, and the Big Bopper were to take the tour bus to Morehead, Iowa 205 miles southwest, which would run about 2 1/2 hours.. At the last minute, they made arrangements to use a private chartered plane. There was some negotiating, begging and coin flipping before it was decided who would get to fly in the plane and who would be stuck riding in the drafty bus. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. This time a Rock N’ Roll star won the coin toss but still lost the bet.
I could go on, but if you have no interest in Buddy Holly, then 10 Amazings are more than enough. If you are interested in Buddy Holly, then you need to see this production yourself. You will add your own amazings.
Bonus Amazing #11: The casting was superb. The photo below shows two guys, who possess an uncanny, you might say amazing, resemblance to Buddy Holly and Joe Boyle.
Purchase Tickets – The Buddy Holly Story through February 26, 2017.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse
7116 Sixth Avenue
Tacoma, Washington 98406
T: 253-565-6867
E: boxoffice@tmp.org
If you run into the red headed thespian, Kat Dollarhide, at the concession stand or working the door, tell her Joe Boyle from The Suburban Times sent you.
Your review is spot on. I saw the Sunday afternoon production and was completely mesmerized from the beginning to the end. Tacoma Musical Playhouse does it again! Great casting, staging and music.
Great review Joe! I might have to buy a couple of tickets and attend. My play list includes songs by Buddy Holly, Big Bopper, and Richie Valens and a host (over 250) other songs from the 1940’s through 1960’s. Drop me a line if you like that kind of music and I’ll let you know my next play date. Some of my best audiences have been grade school kids who really get into the music of the 1950’s/1960’s. It’s a universal appeal as much today as it was 60 years ago. Anyone with children should take them to this show….they will “get it” as much as anyone who lived in that era.
Johnny Crash….the Rockin’ Relic….The Human Jukebox and his Pumpin’ Piano.
Your ride Harley’s? I ride Indians (real ones 1953 and prior). Let’s get together for a ride!
Mr. Arbeeny,
I enjoyed your comments. Before sitting down to write my Buddy Holly story, I created a new station on my Pandora Music Service. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were playing the entire time I was creating, typing and editing my story.
Great fun atmosphere for my creative time with Buddy Holly.
Joseph Boyle
Good story, Joe. Glad to see it’s still running for a while.
AMAZING #12: Correction – While I was told the two actors, who play Hipockets Dunton and Buddy Holly, are father and son, an authoritative source has informed me that they are not. They simply have the last name
I could see them having he same last name if the name were say, Johnson or Smith, but McClure. I have never even heard the name McClure before. That is AMAZING.
Joseph Boyle
For some reason I missed Buddy Holly the first time, and this time as well. But, I would have crawled over glass to see Frank Sinatra. Strange. My musical memories of that era are different from those of most of my friends. I guess that is what keeps all the music alive.
Mr. King,
Starting in the early 1960s I became personally aware of your penchant for listening to Frank Sinatra, the big bands and Jazz.
I believe your intelectual capability coupled with your strong sense of individuality and touch of class is what led you to enjoy a higher level genre of music while the rest of us danced the Bop to Buddy Holly, Elvis and …
I listen to music every day and am always reminded of the gift of music you gave to me in those early years.
When I die, I plan to be burried with ear buds and my iPhone so I can listen to music through my Pandora Music Subscription. I am setting up a trust that will financially support my iPhone bill and Pandora subscription. Just before I die, I will set the Pandora to “Shuffle”. I have already figured out where the best spot is at the graveyard for the strongest wifi signal.
Love Sinatra and love Holly. The best of both worlds.
And they say you can’t take it with you.
Joseph Boyle