Cast of talented performers brings "The Buddy Holly Story" to Billings.
The international tour of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” makes a stop at the Alberta Bair Theater in Billings at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16. Tickets are $35-$50 and went on sale Monday, Dec. 18.
A multi-talented cast performs more than two hours of music with more than 20 of Buddy Holly’s greatest hits, including the timeless classics “That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Oh Boy” and “Rave On.” The Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” and Ritchie Valens’s “La Bamba” complete a stellar musical line-up.
Loved by critics and audiences alike, “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 boy revolutionized the face of contemporary music, influencing everyone from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen.
“When we opened the show we never imagined Buddy’s music and story would still be rocking stages and entertaining audiences around the world, week-in week-out over 25 years later,” says Buddy’s widow, Maria Elena Holly. “I believe this is testament to a great show – the first of its kind – and to the enduring appeal of Buddy Holly and what he represents: a youthful energy, huge talent and creativity, combined with a determination to make a lasting impression in this world.”
Seen by more than 22 million music fans since it opened in London’s West End in 1989, “Buddy” continues to have audiences from 8 to 80 rockin’ in the aisles across the globe and inspired a generation of multi-million selling juke-box musicals including “Jersey Boys,” “Mamma Mia,” “Million Dollar Quartet,” and “We Will Rock You.”
“Audiences dance in the aisles every night to our enactment of the story of a young man whose musical career spanned an all-too-brief period but whose music will be remembered forever,” says writer/producer Alan Janes.
Tickets, $50 and $35, are available at the Alberta Bair Theater Box Office, by phone at 406-256-6052 and online at www.albertabairtheater.org.