Buddy @ 30 – Hit Musical Celebrates 3 Decades
Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a nationwide tour. Belle takes a look at the hit musical and the numbers behind its success.
Buddy tells the enduring tale of the musical icon’s meteoric rise to fame and his final legendary performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, before his tragic and untimely death at the age of 22. In 18 short months the Texas-born rock ‘n’ roller revolutionised the face of contemporary music – influencing everyone from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen.
During the two hour show, which first hit the West End in August 1989, the audience is treated to 20 of Buddy Holly’s greatest hits, including timeless classics That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy and Rave On.
Buddy has enjoyed phenomenal success, having played a record breaking 4450 performances over 556 weeks on tour in the UK and Ireland, as well as 5822 performances over 728 weeks in London’s West End. Last year saw Buddy joining a small – but lauded – number of iconic musicals including Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Miss Saigon, Evita and Cats in reaching a phenomenal three decades on stage.
Seen by over 22 million music fans since it opened in London’s West End in 1989, Buddy speaks an international language and continues to have audiences from aged 8 to 80 years old rockin’ in the aisles across the globe.
Buddy will play at the historic Theatre Royal Windsor all of next week, from Mon 24 – Sat 29 February, before touring across the country for the next six months. To book visit theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk or see the official website at www.buddythemusical.com.
30 Years of Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story in Numbers:
- Since opening at the Theatre Royal Plymouth, in August 1989, BUDDY has played 556 weeks (4,450 performances) on tour in the U.K., and 728 weeks (5822 performances) in London’s West End – for a total of 10,272 U.K. performances!
- In total our Buddy Hollys have sung 17 songs 264,346 times
- 186,000 guitar strings have been replaced (92 miles) and over 212,000 plectrums used
- 3,320 pairs of trousers have had to be replaced – due to Buddy knee sliding across stages throughout the world – and 410 pairs of glasses
- Over 33 tons of washing powder has been used by our Wardrobe Mistresses/Masters, as well as more than 2,750 gallons of fabric conditioner
- 150,000 feet (28.41 miles) of guitar cable have been used and 3,038,785 radio mic batteries replaced.
- The trucks that are used to transport the show from venue to venue have now travelled approximately five-and-three-quarter times around the world!
- The performers have drunk over 104,000 gallons of bottled water. The beer intake has never been monitored!
- Throughout the world twelve couples have met and married while working in the company and there have been 26 Buddy babies!
- Extended runs and tours have included London, UK tours, Broadway, US tours, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Reno, Canada, Toronto, British Columbia, Australia, Sydney, New Zealand, Germany, Hamburg, South Africa, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Ireland, Japan, and Singapore
- Buddy ran in the West End for over 14 years – playing the Victoria Palace, Strand (now Novello), and Duchess Theatres – making it one of the longest-running shows in London theatre history!
