Buddy Holly may have left this earth some six-and-a-half decades ago on “the day the music died”, but the 1950s rock and roll legend lives on in Long Beach in the person of dazzling quadruple-threat phenom Will Riddle in Musical Theatre West’s rousing revival of musical/tribute concert hybrid that is Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story.

Rock ‘n’ roll fans will forever commemorate 2-3-59 as the date that 22-year-old Buddy lost his life in a plane crash just five miles from the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, the site of the pop star’s final concert only hours before.

 Though the loss of the plane’s pilot and Buddy’s fellow passengers, recording artists Richie Valens and Jiles Perry “JP” Richardson, Jr. (aka The Big Bopper), were equally untimely, it is the erasure of Holly’s musical genius that has been most felt in the sixty-six years since that winter night.

Fortunately for the music world, Holly’s genius has survived through his songs. The three albums Holly released during his lifetime (and the many more released posthumously) have become rock & roll classics, and have inspired and influenced Hall Of Famers The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and many more.

Unlike Jersey Boys’ Tony-nominated book, by Alan Janes’s for Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story is a bit of a featherweight, though in its defense, the life Buddy led was a charmed one, with none of the drama that plagued The Four Seasons.

Thus, Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story gives us the major highlights of a too-short life and career while keeping its main focus on Buddy’s music.

And what music that is, with hits like “That’ll Be The Day,” “Words Of Love,” “Everyday,” “Oh, Boy!,” “Peggy Sue,” “It’s So Easy,” “True Love Ways,” “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” and “Raining in My Heart,” all recorded during the brief eighteen months of Holly’s career.

Holly was also the first rock musician to write his own songs, with the Beatles and Keith Richard later following his example.

Flairfully directed and choreographed for MTW by Keith Andrews, Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story wins over its audience from the country-and-western tunes that start off the show, to The Crickets’ first hit, “That’ll Be The Day” and those that followed, to the grand finale that has audience members up on their feet dancing along to “Johnny B. Goode.”

Instantly likable and utterly convincing as the still-a-teen-when-we-meet-him Buddy, Riddle holds the audience in the palm of his hand from the get-go, scarcely if ever leaving the stage, and like the rock and roll icon himself, displays infectious charm, down-home good nature, and a combination of zest and zeal that proves irresistible, not to mention Riddle plays a mean guitar and shows off agile footwork throughout the show.

Holly’s backup band, The Crickets, are brought to vibrant life by Omar D. Brancato as Joe B. Mauldin, who plays the double bass like nobody’s business even while riding it in one Kamasutra position after another, Laura Leo Kelly, who shows off both drum pizzazz and aw-shucks comedic chops as Jerry Allison, and an engaging Chase Ramsay, who strums expertly as occasional Cricket Tommy Allsup.

Mexican-Afghan-American charmer Ali Márquez-Qadiri is on fire as Richie Valens, his own youthful exuberance reminding us that the Chicano groundbreaker was a heartbreakingly young seventeen-year-old when he got on that plane, and Trent Mills is equally impressive as the music giant who called himself The Big Bopper, bringing the house down with a powerhouse “Chantilly Lace.” (Like pretty much everyone in the show’s featured cast, the power pair appear in multiple memorable cameos each.)

Mia Sempertegui charms audiences and Buddy alike as Holly’s wife Maria Elena, Janaya Mahealani Jones is a soulful sensation as Marlena Madison, and together the distaff duo provide exciting vocal backup for Riddle in the final concert which makes up the bulk of the show’s second act.

Justin Marriel Boyd reveals R&B power pipes alongside Jones as Apollo Theater DJ Tyrone Jones, David Kirk Grant is a folksy delight as radio DJ Hi-Pockets Duncan, and Ryan DeNardo and Elizabeth Curtin are topnotch too as record producer Norman Petty and piano-playing wife Vi.

Lauren Han’s Mary Lou Sokolof delivers a highly entertaining operatic rendition of “America The Beautiful” and a terrific Brian Wallis completes the cast as (among others) record exec Murray Deutsch.

 Most spectacularly of all, virtually the entire ensemble plays at least one musical instrument each, most memorably as the bang-up backup band that accompanies Buddy, Richie, and the Bopper under Ryan O’Connell’s expert music direction.

Kevin Clowes’s expansive set design transforms into multiple U.S. locales; Greer Gardner’s costumes, Miranda Vazquez’ props, and Garrett Ruiz’s wigs recreate fifties fashions, doodads and dos to nostalgic effect; Paul Black’s lighting varies impressively from realistic indoor lighting for recording studio sessions to a pizzazzier look for concert performances; and Danny Fiandaca’s sound design provides a crystal-clear mix of live vocals and instrumentals.

Bren Thor is associate producer. Catt Fox-Ururburu is production manager. Brigham Johnson is production stage manager and Audrey Colindres, Shay Garber, and Julian Olive are assistant stage managers.

 There is literally no one too old to enjoy Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, and no one too young to be enraptured with the timeless music of this much-lamented legend. If there every was a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, Musical Theatre West’s Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story is it.

Musical Theatre West, Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach.
www.musical.org

–Steven Stanley
July 12, 2025
Photos: Musical Theatre West

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Buddy Holly, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre West