For three nights only, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story shows at Birmingham Hippodrome. Telling the story and singing the songs of Buddy Holly, the award-winning West End show is on tour again, and returns to the Hippodrome for the first time in 11 years. Featuring beloved hits - including That’ll Be The Day, Rave On, Everyday, Peggy Sue and more - and a live on-stage band, the show offers a nostalgic journey into the story of early Rock and Roll.

AJ Jenks plays the man of the hour, providing pitch-perfect vocals and sporting Buddy’s signature glasses with aplomb. The show captures a series of performances in which Buddy Holly and the Crickets break their Rock and Rollin’ teeth at their local radio station, before finding fame and signing with Decca records. The climax of the piece takes place at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa - the day before the fateful plane crash which claimed the lives of Holly, Ritchie Valens, JP Richardson (The Big Bopper) and their pilot, Roger Peterson.

The Buddy Holly Story is in some ways light on the ‘story’, instead offering to recreate performances from Holly’s short-lived but brightly burning career. Perhaps due to the fast-moving scenes between renditions of songs, it feels as though there is a lost opportunity to explore Holly’s impact and influence - and that Buddy himself was more magnetic and charismatic than the show allows. 

There is certainly room for a few stand-out performances, however. The Crickets - drummer Jerry Allison (Stephen Alexander-Kerr), guitarist Niki Sullivan (Joe Sterling) and bassist Joe B Mauldin (Melker Nilsson) - provide a glimpse of Rock and Roll spirit. Miguel Angel and Laura-Dene Perryman sing a showstopping rendition of Shout, when the story moves to Harlem’s Apollo Theatre.

The energy of the play builds, so that Buddy’s final gig is suitably celebratory and poignant. Movingly, he is joined on stage by The Big Bopper (Joshua Barton) and Ritchie Valens (Miguel Angel) - who also lost their lives ‘the day the music died’, as immortalized by Don McLean - and each actor adds a contrasting, charismatic stage presence.

The three lead singers manage to capture each performer’s unique spark, and the production commemorates their lives, without diving too deeply, or looking too closely at the tragedy. And for fans of Buddy Holly, this is the chance to hear his treasured hits live on stage.

Three stars 

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Musical was reviewed on Thursday 28 August by Jessica Clixby at Birmingham Hippodrome, where it runs until Saturday 20 August