Harris Center Presents BUDDY - THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY, 3/09-10

BUDDY - THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY will be performed at the Harris Center on Monday, March 9, 2015 at 7:30 pm and Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 2 & 7:30 pm. Tickets are priced at $39-$59; Premium $69; 10% Discount on Tuesday Matinee Single Tickets. Tickets are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from the Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. Harris Center is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.

February 3rd marked the 56th anniversary of "the Day the Music Died", as Don McLean called the death of Buddy Holly in the song 'American Pie.' To commemorate the occasion, the worldwide smash-hit musical Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story will be rocking the Harris Center for the Arts, proving that the music, like Buddy's legacy, lives on.

If you remember the golden days of rock 'n' roll when 'doo-wops' and 'ah hey, ah hey heys' rang out from every radio and jukebox, chances are the date of 3rd February 1959 will send a shiver down the spine. That day will forever be ingrained on the memory of Maria Elena, widow of rock & roll legend Charles Hardin 'Buddy' Holley (the 'e' was dropped after his name was misspelled on a recording contract). That was June 1958, and the couple had been married less than six months when the small Beechcraft Bonanza plane carrying a 22-year-old Buddy, 17-year-old Ritchie Valens, J.P. 'the Big Bopper' Richardson (28), and pilot Roger Peterson (21), plummeted from the night sky into a frozen Iowa cornfield.

Maria Elena Santiago was 25 when she and Buddy married in August 1958. They married less than two months after she met the young singer from Lubbock, Texas. His songs, including "That'll Be The Day," "Peggy Sue," "Not Fade Away," "Maybe Baby," and unique musical style quickly made him a worldwide star.

It was in the U.K. on his 1958 tour of England (something Elvis never did) that the Buddy Holly legend first took off internationally and continues years after his death, through the so-called 'British Invasion' of the '60s. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Elton John, have all spoken about how they took Buddy - the tall, lanky kid with glasses - to heart, and connected with his image as the 'everyman' of rock & roll.

"Buddy was as blind as a bat!" laughs Maria Elena of the famous frames. "He wore the metal-rimmed glasses - when he was on stage (if he) took them off he couldn't see anything. He felt self-conscious." But the glasses came to represent everything Buddy Holly stood for. Elvis he wasn't, with an unconventional look and unique talent. This certainly made an impression.

It's arguably the Beatles, right down to the band name, that Buddy and his band the Crickets' influence is most evident. Paul McCartney once said at least the first 40 songs the Beatles wrote were Buddy Holly-influenced. "I would say that John Lennon and Buddy would've been the best of friends," suggests Maria Elena. "I know Paul also loved and respected Buddy, but I think John and Buddy would've got together to do a duet."

Natural then, that it was on the London stage that Buddy's legend took on a new life with the first of the big 'jukebox' musicals Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, in 1989. A smash hit in the West End, on Broadway, throughout North America and around the world for the past 25 years, the show has helped to introduce Buddy's music to new generations. Buddy's single-minded determination to push musical boundaries is clear for all to see in the show. Could that happy, smiling, bespectacled face, immortalized in time, really have been such a rebel? "Absolutely, that's very accurate!" Maria Elena enthuses. "Buddy was a very nice, laidback, relaxed kind of person. When it came to his music, no sirree! He always had this to say: 'hey, why don't we try it my way first, and if you don't like it and you show me why you don't like it, then I'll do it your way - how's that?' Buddy was so in tune with everything out there and not afraid of trying new things. If you listen to all of his songs none of them are alike. He was a 22-year-old starting his career but his mentality was different. Who would've ever thought of a rock 'n' roller putting violins

in anything?"

Over the years, there have been numerous actors presented with the task of filling Buddy's shoes on stage. New Yorker Todd Meredith will don the glasses on the 2015 US tour; something he is by no means unfamiliar with, having played the lead in a number of regional productions of the show.

"When I first played the role I started to realize just how much Buddy had influenced all my favorite artists from the '60s," says Meredith. I've been incredibly lucky to make a living as an actor and musician for the past seven years, and I would have never had the guts to pursue it for this long if I hadn't been offered the role of Buddy in this show. I hope this (tour) production does Buddy justice and new audience members become inspired by his character and his music. No other show I have been a part of gets quite the same crazy reaction from the crowd at the end. It really is a special thing to witness."

The Harris Center for the Arts at Folsom Lake College is a $50 million facility built with a combination of state, regional, local and private funds. Harris Center has three intimate theaters, an art gallery, a recording studio, elegant teaching spaces, plenty of safe parking and all the other amenities of a state-of-the-art performing arts venue. The Harris Center presents touring artists from around the world; partners with the best regional arts organizations, and supports productions by FLC students and faculty.

The Harris Center for the Arts (formerly Three Stages) is named to honor Brice Harris, Chancellor Emeritus of the Los Rios Community College District, for his many contributions to the capital region, including the vision and leadership he provided in opening this regional arts center.

Tickets are available online at www.HarrisCenter.net or from Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time.