Interview: Stewards of the Music: A Conversation with BUDDY HOLLY Cast
by Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold
- Jul 7, 2023
We are the stewards of the music. We are here to keep it alive and share it with as many people as possible,” says actor Jayson Elliott, who plays the Big Bopper in Maine State Music Theatre’s current production of THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY. Elliott joins Diego Guevara, who portrays Ritchie Valens, Angela C. Howell, director/choreographer/music director who also plays Vi Petty, and MSMT Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark for a conversation about the musical with Broadway World’s Maine Editor, Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold at the second Peek Behind the Curtain series of the season. The record-breaking crowd attending the panel discussion mirrors the sold-out houses THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY has been drawing each night at the Pickard Theatre. They have come to celebrate the rock n’ roll legends and to explore what made Buddy Holly and his early colleagues such phenomena of music history.
Review: BUDDY THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY at Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire IL
by Tina St. Angelo Wetzel
- Jul 6, 2023
What did our critic think of BUDDY THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY at Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire IL? The current production at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire is Buddy the Buddy Holly Story. It was the first of the jukebox musicals premiering in 1989. It’s not just the story of the short-lived life of Buddy Holly but it also tells the story of rock ‘n roll in its infancy and the pioneers who created the sound.
Review: THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY: The Legend and the Legacy Live in MSMT's New Production
by Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold
- Jun 30, 2023
There are certain moments of history that become emblazoned in our collective human psyches. Fans of American popular music all remember with a searing certainty the day when Charles Hardin Holley was killed in a plane crash at age twenty-two, his pioneering meteoric rock ‘n’ roll career brought to a tragic end. But if Feb 3,1959, was “the day the music died “ - as Don McLean wrote - MSMT’s Buddy Holly STORY turns that trope on its head. The new production, staged by Angela C. Howell makes clear that the legacy of Buddy Holly lives, and if MSMT’s production of the jukebox musical about Holly’s legend and his legacy rocks the Pickard Theater to the rafters with its visceral musical energy, it also speaks volumes about the warmth and heart of the Holly story.
Interview: A Conversation with BUDDY HOLLY's Andrew Harvey and Jayson Elliott
by Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold
- Jun 23, 2023
“To do this show, you’ve got to have a bag of tricks. Everybody in the cast has to be multi-instrumentalists, as well as actors and singers.” Actor Jayson Elliott is talking about the complexities of performing THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY, which MSMT will present on its main stage beginning June 28. Elliot is reprising his role of J.P. Richardson, known as “The Big Bopper,” and he and MSMT newcomer, Andrew Harvey, who essays the title role, are discussing the intricacies and appeal of this juke box musical and its inspiration, rock and roll legend, Buddy Holly.
Harvey and Elliott have worked together before on this show with director Angela C. Howell at Tuacahn Amphitheatre in Utah, and both actors have considerable experience with their roles. Elliott says he has played The Big Bopper some twenty times; Harvey has four productions under his belt, and they both note that the MSMT cast of eighteen can cumulatively claim to have performed in some one hundred productions. Harvey says, “ I have worked with quite a few of these people before, and I am enjoying being together again. They are all insanely talented musicians – which you have to be in this kind of juke box musical.”
Review: HADESTOWN at National Theatre
by Roger Catlin
- Jun 8, 2023
When the cast of “Hadestown” emerge on stage at the National Theatre waving to the waiting audience, they’re received with cheers like old friends.
Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts Announces Summer Season 2023
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 7, 2023
Summer Season 2023 at Spencer Theater is a three-month spread of 13 stage performances and special events featuring top country artists, folk-rock greats and early rock tributes, big band pizazz, a patriotic salute, comedy, children's theatre, fine-dining fun, and so much more with some of the finest stage artists and troupes on the road.
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