‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’ is celebrating its 30 year anniversary and has made a stop at Salford’s Lowry Theatre.

The show has been seen by more than 22 million people worldwide and is one of the top 10 longest running musicals in the West End.

Buddy arrived on 27th January and will be here until this Saturday 1st February (tomorrow) – so there is still time to watch it if you haven’t had a chance.

The Lowry rolled out their red carpet on opening night to welcome Jsky, Chanélle McCleary and more famous faces to watch the musical that celebrates the golden days of rock and roll.

The Lowry also offered a dementia friendly performance which provided a relaxed and welcoming environment for people living with dementia to enjoy theatre with their family and friends.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Lowry_main_entrance.jpg

Buddy director, Matt Salisbury, explains what he thinks keeps audiences coming to see the show 30 years later: “The music. The innocence of the story of Buddy and his growth as a teenager into a man and a musical genius. The energy we create and which the audiences absorb and then feed back to us. The sheer feel good factor that the show brings to the theatre night after night. It’s infectious and genuine and unbelievably powerful.”

Buddy first opened at Theatre Royal Plymouth in August 1989, and has since 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.

Credit: Rebecca Need-Menear

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.

There is 17 iconic songs in the show that have the audience standing on their feet, and in total, the show’s Buddy Hollys have sung 17 songs 264,346 times.

Credit: Rebecca Need-Menear

Matt Salisbury confirmed that during its performances in London at the Victoria Palace theatre the whole of the dress circle began to shake due to the audiences getting up and dancing during the show. He said: “It moved so much that you could visibly see it and dust would fall into the stalls. In the dress circle foyer you could feel the building move.”

Since it first opened, the show has inspired a plethora of juke-box musicals, including Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You.

For tickets, visit: buddythemusical.com

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Buddy The Musical (@buddythemusical) on

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *