Jeff Giles playing Buddy Holly at the Homburg Theatre (Photo Guardian)

Charlottetown reprises the popular and highly charged musical from last year featuring the music of rock and roll legend Buddy Holly

Last night we took in opening night of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story for a fun night of 1950’s rock and roll nostalgia at the Homburg Theatre in Charlottetown.

The musical is more musical jukebox than theatrical story but that’s what people want. 

The only disappointment with the performance was the sound system at the Homburg Theatre which is in dire need of an upgrade. It distorted anytime the volume went above a moderate level.

Buddy Holly was a young rock and roll aspirant living in the middle of country and western Lubbock Texas when he burst onto the scene with That’ll Be The Day in 1957. He died a few years later in February 1959 cutting short his career.

Buddy Holly’s musical career wasn’t an easy process but that’s again the norm for the business. He signed a bad record contract with Decca Records. Then he signed away half his potential income to Norman Petty.

Petty was a New Mexico record producer who also worked with Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and Buddy Knox. Was the deal fair? Probably not but that’s the music business. Without a decent producer, young musicians had no hope of success.

By the time he had million selling hits, Holly was forced to tour to make any income. It was while touring during the winter of 1959 that he died in the crash of a small plane.

Singer songwriter Don McLean immortalized the event as The Day The Music Died, which is of course an overblown and sentimental reaction. Buddy Holly was only one of many great rock and roll musicians.

The musical does provide some interesting insight into Holly’s determination to get recorded and the serendipity of musical creativity.

The second half of the first act is all about the music. The cast treat the audience to rousing renditions of Holly’s early hits like Peggy Sue, Not Fade Away, Everyday, Oh Boy and the tender Words of Love which was covered by The Beatles.

The Apollo Theatre scene allowed Alana Hibbert, the singer, and Michael Clarke, saxophonist, to strut their stuff. The two numbers, Good Time and Party, weren’t Buddy Holly’s and could have been dropped except for the energetic cast performances.

Last night’s audience was definitely from the era when Buddy Holly was alive and they soaked it all up. There is nothing like nostalgia for our youth to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. A younger audience may or may not find the music as compelling.

The second act seemed to drag at first. I was fidgeting and wondering if they had enough Buddy Holly material to pick up the pace.

Once they got past the plot of the music business, his marriage and death, we got back to the music. In fact, the last part of the show stole the night with one great musical performance after another like Rave On, Johnny B Goode and an encore of Oh Boy.

Jeff Giles is the star and he carries the show from one end to other. He is Buddy Holly in every scene, driven, nervously energetic and musical.

Giles does a credible job of singing Buddy Holly and plays lead guitar. While not perfect, his lead playing was credible.

One of the appeals of early rock and roll was simplicity. Buddy Holly started with a three piece band – guitar, bass and drums. There isn’t much room to get the music wrong and the musicians acquitted themselves well.

Special mention should go to PEI’s own Richard Knox on drums who came back from Toronto for the show. It was nice to see PEI’s Peter Bevan-Baker on trumpet, a modern renaissance man.

Of course, the question of the night is what roles does theatre artistic director Wade Lynch write himself into.

I’m sure everyone left the theatre in a good mood.

It’s a shame the Homburg Theatre can’t get a better sound system. The one they have is pathetic. As soon as someone raises their voice it starts to break up. The overall sound is edgy and harsh. Nice theatre, abominable sound.

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story runs until October 8th, 2011.