RAVE REVIEW FOR BUDDY

By Emily Pearce - Friday, May 9, 2008

David Bartram-Shaw as Buddy, front, with Matthew Busbridge as Joe B. Maulden on bass and back is Edward Griffith as Jerry Allison on drums. Picture by LAURA HOLME.

STAGE REVIEW
VENTNOR Theatre Group’s presentation of Buddy, the all-singing, all-dancing biopic of rock ’n’ roll legend Buddy Holly, opened at the Winter Gardens last week.
The amateur production more than lived up to its successful West End counterpart, the story of Buddy’s journey from the country and western heartland of Lubbock, Texas, to rock ’n’ roll stardom and an untimely death was wonderfully depicted by a talented cast and, just as importantly, an excellent band.
The production benefited from a solid supporting cast, with impressive turns from Matthew Busbridge and Edward Griffith as The Crickets, from Mark Moss and Faye Lushey as record producer Norman Petty and his wife, Vi, and from Gabriella Griffith as Buddy’s young wife, Maria Elena.
Nathan Meller and Richard Buckley were first-class as Buddy’s fellow musicians, the larger-than-life Big Bopper and the hip-shaking Ritchie Valens respectively, as was Peter Farrin as Texan DJ and narrator Hipockets Duncan.
But there can only be one star of the show in this production and 18-year-old David Bartram-Shaw was sensational in the role of Buddy.
The young actor captured the look, the voice and the stage presence of Buddy Holly exceptionally well, and, even more impressively, gave a very natural performance when it would have been easy to revert to parody.
The fabulous selection of tunes, including That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Chantilly Lace, Oh Boy and Rave On, certainly had the audience clapping along and a spectacular concert finale with wonderful vocal performances from the supporting cast provoked a spontaneous bout of dancing in the aisles.
Rave on, indeed.

RAVE REVIEW FOR BUDDY

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