Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story

By Amy Mackenzie

Buddy! The Musical

Set in the late 1950s, Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story follows the short-lived, but forever memorable career of Buddy Holly and The Crickets.

Starting with his first big break, and ending with the infamous plane crash that marked “the day the music died”, it depicts Buddy’s stalwart desire to play his own style of music, rather than succumbing to the wills of the record labels who demanded he play country music, not rock and roll.

After all… rock and roll is, and forever will be, the devil’s music.

Whoever cast this show would have been faced with an incredibly hard decision; is it more important to hire someone who looks and sounds like Buddy Holly, or someone who can act?

They decided on the former.

Sure, Scott Cameron (not to be confused with the Scott Cameron who was the assistant director of such films as Crash, House on Haunted Hill, Mullhulland Drive and several episodes of Get Smart… not that he would be) performs well musically, but every time he has to deliver lines it suddenly feels like you’re watching a school play.

Cringe.

Most of the other characters are well performed (although HiPockets Duncan’s Texan accent slips from Australian, to Texan, to New Zealander), but you can certainly tell that Cameron is more musician than actor.

His on stage credits are limited only to Buddy! The Musical, but he has achieved high acclaim as a musician in both Australia and America, picking up the guitar at an age when it was probably bigger than himself.

Surprisingly, he is also a graduate of AIDA (The Australian Institute of Dramatic Arts) and has been cast in several little-known Australian films.

At the risk of sounding callous, you couldn’t tell.

That said, his embodiment of Buddy Holly’s stage persona is outstanding. The voice, the movement, the geeky appearance… it almost makes up for the fact he is not the greatest actor.

Indeed, his lack of acting ability should not matter to a true Buddy Holly fan – for the music is more important than the acting. Especially in a show that contains more singing than acting.

In fact, the dialogue is often trite and used only to lead into the next song anyway. There are a couple attempts at jokes, all of which fail, some coming across as slightly racist.

Highlights of the show? Not many.

The performance of Johnny B. Goode was a personal favourite, mainly because it conjured childhood memories of Back to The Future. Why they added in a Chuck Berry song I have no idea. I suppose it was to demonstrate how Holly helped bridge the gap between stereotypically white and black music.

And of course the grand finale with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens was a definite crowd pleaser. One could almost say that these two stole the show.

Overall, a fun experience. But not particularly clever in the way it’s been put together.

Go see a Buddy Holly tribute band instead. 

More Information: www.buddythemusical.com.au