By: Alan Janes and Rob Bettison, music by various artists. At: Drury Lane Oak Brook,100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. Phone: 630-530-0111; $28-$33. Runs through: July 27
With Jersey Boys packing in the crowds in Chicago's Loop, it only makes sense for Drury Lane Oakbrook to program another hit jukebox musical to lure audiences out to the suburbs. On paper and in performance at Drury Lane, much of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story turns out to be a very good idea.
First performed in London in 1989 ( where it ran an amazing 12 years ) , Buddy is one of those pioneering jukebox musicals that showed you could make a mint by building a scripted show around a collection of pre-existing pop hits. And what could be more compelling than dramatizing the life of a Texas singer/songwriter who shoots to pop superstardom in 1957, only to be killed two years later in a tragic plane crash that has been dubbed 'The Day The Music Died'?
True, Buddy allows a bevy of hits like 'Peggy Sue,' 'That'll Be the Day' and 'La Bamba' to live again for a nostalgic baby-boomer ride. But the problem is Buddy's pedestrian chronological script by Alan Janes and Rob Bettison.
Every time there's the potential for dramatic conflict, the authors barely touch upon it before returning to another pop hit. It's frustrating because there's a lot of potential drama from Holly's mother's opposition to him marrying a Latina woman, and of the prejudice Holly faced by incorporating rock and roll's 'black sound' into his music. Even Holly's break-up with his longtime 'Crickets' bandmates is dealt with matter-of-factly instead of plumbing the emotional loss of close and artistic friendships.
So if Buddy's script is bland, at least the talented Drury Lane acting ensemble under Tammy Mader's direction wring everything they can out it. But even more remarkable is that the actors also rock out playing their own instruments.
Leading the way is Justin Berkobien, who dons those iconic horn-rimmed glasses as Holly. He's backed by great performers as The Crickets: Cody Siragusa doing acrobatic bass playing tricks as Joe B., Jim Barclay's pulsating drumming ( and great comic timing ) as Jerry and the multi-talented guitar work ( both acoustic and electric ) of Michael Mahler as Tommy.
Berkobien plays Holly with such an aw-shucks humility that he's constantly in danger of being upstaged. Byron Glenn Willis electrifies as the Apollo MC, as do Tony Sancho as Ritchie Valens and Casey Campbell as an appealingly hammy Big Bopper. Also injecting a flash of sass into the mix is Karen Marie Richardson, Lili-Anne Brown and Neda Spears as the Apollo girl-group trio.
If taken as an amazingly talented rock 'n' roll tribute band concert with great production values and well-acted bits of script filler, Buddy will surely satisfy. But if you want a more theatrical experience with complex drama, humor and emotion, try looking elsewhere.