Award-winning Buddy Holly musical to tour to the Theatre Royal Bath

The West End and Broadway smash hit rock and roll musical, Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, visits the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 April 2023 as part of a major UK tour.

Boasting a multi-talented cast of actor-musicians, Buddy presents two terrific hours of music with over 20 of his greatest hits, including the timeless classics That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Everyday and Rave On. With the Big Bopper’s Chantilly Lace and Ritchie Valens’ La Bamba, and rip-roaring versions of Shout and Johnny B. Goode completing a stellar musical line-up, Buddy is a not to be missed evening of family entertainment.

Loved by critics and audiences alike, Buddy tells the enduring story of the music 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 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.

AJ Jenks and Christopher Weeks reprise the role of Buddy Holly on alternate performances. They are joined by Joe Butcher as Joe B. Mauldin, Josh Haberfield as Jerry Allison, Daniella Agredo Piper as Maria Elena Holly, Miguel Angel as Ritchie Valens and Tyrone Jones, and Christopher Chandler as JP Richardson ‘The Big Bopper.' 

Image: Joe Butcher, Christopher Chandler, Miguel Angel and Josh Haberfield in Buddy - The Buddy Holly Musical. Credit: Hamish Gill. 

Alan Janes, writer and producer, says: “We are so excited to be back on tour and to see our audiences – aged 8 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 - The Buddy Holly Story has enjoyed phenomenal success, having 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. Returning to UK stages after a triumphant 30th year anniversary tour in 2019, Buddy is one of a small number of iconic musicals - including Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Cats - to reach a spectacular three decades on stage. 

Since its inception, Buddy has inspired a generation of multi-million selling jukebox musicals including Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You, yet remains the true original and a musical phenomenon. Seen by more than 22 million theatregoers since it opened in 1989, Buddy speaks an international language and continues to have audiences rocking in the aisles across the globe.

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 April. To purchase tickets, contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on +44 (0)1225 448844 or book online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.