BRUNSWICK, Maine — Andrew Harvey was delighted to be cast in the lead role at Maine State Music Theatre’s production of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story.” It’s not a part in which a performer can coast, though, and Harvey acknowledges he felt the weight of expectations.
“Obviously there’s a certain amount of pressure,” he said. “But it also very much an honor.”
Buddy Holly was one of the brightest lights of 1950s rock and roll, an unusually gifted writer and performer with immense potential. He was just 22 when he died in a plane crash with two other singers, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.
Jayson Elliott portrays the Big Bopper. He, too, understands what the audience will expect at this show—not just the music of Holly, but also of Valens and the Bopper—and why he has to deliver.
“It is just truly an honor to be stewards of their music, to keep it alive,” he said.
The production, which runs through July 15, features many songs, and at times it might feel like more of a concert than a theatrical musical. That’s a good thing. The performers want the crowd to get caught up in the music, to feel the energy of songs that have endured for more than 60 years.
“It is a concert, so that fourth wall kind of disappears a little bit. There is interaction back and forth a little bit with the audience during the concert. And we want to hear them,” Elliott said, his enthusiasm building as he spoke. “We want them to feel that they are at a concert. The more they feel that, the more we feel that. And it is rock and roll. It is rock and roll."