Holy Holly
Far be it from More Teeth (or anyone else) to diminish the talents and contributions to popular culture left us by the late Buddy Holly. Early Rock n' Roll was certainly shaped, in some small way, by Holly's musical output. He was no Ike, Jerry Lee, Little Richard, Elvis or Chuck, but he and his co-passengers that day in 1959 did leave us with some good tunes and, perhaps more enduring, a great story to tell. With soap-opera subplots, a dash of melting pot American immigration that would resonate strongly in Arizona today and the always popular ending of young talent cut short in bloom, the tale of Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper was destined for retelling the second the plane hit the ground.
In all honesty, though, no one really remembers Holly and the others unless reminded by an oldies DJ, one of the many iconic, but fictional films, or...this. 'The Buddy Holly Story' bills itself as the first of the jukebox musicals...so we have him to blame for that, anyway. Except, unlike 'Mamma Mia', the 'Buddy Holly Story' has an actual story. And we're not so interested in how factual it is anymore. In going to see a stage show about rock music, we're only interested in one thing - how's the music? Does it, in fact, rock? Or do we have musical theater dressing up as Rock delivered by a bunch of kids who are far too young to grasp what the fuss could have been about all those years ago? Will the show be as safe and approachable as Buddy himself was or will we get a hint of the electricity and threat that the parents and preachers were so afraid of back then? More Teeth heads back to Courthouse to see if Russ Maitland's crew can make us remember them good ol' boys or whether the levee is dry...
Apparently, 'Buddy Holly' moves to the Park Cinema in Cranston in a couple of weeks. At least this tour will be short enough to not require a plane. Which is fortunate, since, once again, this Courthouse production sports a mammoth cast who have to fight for elbow room if there are more than a few onstage at a time. And, while perky and talented in fits and starts, they seem almost superfluous to the main attraction. It's the script...or the direction...or both, but we spend a lot of time watching small vignettes that barely scratch the surface of telling us anything about Buddy Holly. We know more about Vi Petty (spunkily portrayed by Ali Kelly who, like many of the cast, winds up showing their instrumental talents in this show) by the end of Act One than Buddy or the Crickets. And while it would be easy enough to blame a lack of attention on the fact that some unfortunate audience members decided this would be the perfect place to have a drunken squabble and decorate the back of the seats with the contents of their stomach, that would be an easy out. We mostly just wanted to hear Buddy play. And he does - with a practiced ease and perfect blend of character and musicianship. Eric Fontana delivers and his Crickets, Dylan Sevey and Matt Lombardi ring true as the best Holly tribute act in RI. Fontana plateaus early on in his acting performance, Maitland allowing him to barrel forward in more of a cartoon version of Holly than an actual person, but that's ok...we patiently wait for him to pick up the guitar again and let it rock. If nothing else, Fontana is completely committed to the role and we're willing to accept him as Holly with open arms.
So the live Buddy Holly experience is solid, but too often, the band is obscured by what seems like hundreds of dancers. The choreography, also by Maitland, is fine, but seems completely unnecessary except as a means by which to make this musical theater instead of a Holly revue. To make matters worse, lighting designer Katelyn Nixon has them completely in the dark. Not dimly lit or in silhouette as a complement and comment on the way Holly's music made the kids wanna move - but in the dark. It's not until the closing "concert" in Clearlake that they get any illumination...and that may have been so the audience members invited to join them don't fall down. Nixon also makes an odd choice to light the back projection screen with pink while slides are projected, completely washing them out. Not that it made much difference as the slides were mostly distracting, redundant and seemingly random...continuously projected behind every scene, even when we've seen the same picture several times earlier to illustrate a completely different moment. Surely there were more pictures to be found than the same ten repeated over and over...especially since most of them were already plastered on the walls on both sides of the stage. One of many anachronisms was the Rolling Stone magazine cover. This was projected, but also on the wall, daring the audience to remember that Rolling Stone magazine didn't exist until the late sixties and that the issue shown here was from far later than that. A portable cassette recorder (nowhere near invented in 1959), modern microphones and studio equipment and allowing Fontana to "push" 0 for the operator join the list of "oops" moments that help us wonder how much research was done on set dressing and props. The coup de grace, though would have to be the swirling visuals of a computer screensaver waving behind the band at odd moments.
It seems, as we've observed over the last several shows at Courthouse, that the time and money went towards costumes. From the dresses to the white jackets to Scott Morency's J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson in his outrageous animal print, everyone *looks* fantastic. Morency, however, gets to do more than look good in a costume. His Big Bopper is a major highlight of the second act and one of the times during the entire show that the "fun" seems genuine and not staged. The memory we are to take away, it seems, is not one of tragic loss of major talent but that this was an era of unadulterated, innocent fun set to Bo Diddley beats. The actual set list is reproduced, more or less, by allowing us to hear the all-star rendition of "La Bamba" (featuring a darkly made up David Tessier who rips the song apart, turning it into one of the evening's heaviest performances...why he was made to wear makeup to appear Hispanic while Rachel Nadeau's Maria Elena Holly did not is a mystery). As the concert climaxes, the lights drop and we are presented with a tepid slideshow of grainy newspaper articles and a voiceover indicating the plane crash that killed Holly, Valens, Richardson and their pilot. The number of ways this could have been handled differently don't matter, for we were never allowed to care that much about Holly anyway. Lights back up and we get a "keep on rocking" finale of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." Why this song is included is anyone's guess other than its symbolism as the epitome of 50's rock. The actual final concert did indeed close with a Berry song ("Brown Eyed Handsome Man"), perhaps as a nod to "the real thing" as opposed to the safe (aside from Valens, to a certain extent) digestible rockabilly and novelty pop on hand.
Fitting...for the show, 'Buddy...', is not the real thing - it is musical theater that includes some moments of Rock n' Roll. We don't get a chance to know or care about anyone, for the most part, save a few minutes of genuine warmth between Maria Elena and Buddy. A musical revue featuring the musicians and DJ voiceover throughout would have been more effective. But, that's the script and that's what Courthouse has on hand. And since it's late in the run and tickets are pretty much gone, anyone reading this has already seen it or has committed to attend, so enjoy...The Park may afford more room for the sprawling dance numbers and a chance to fine tune the lighting and bring in a few more pictures. Or, they may decide that it's all about the music and let Buddy, Ritchie and The Bopper just do a two hour show. As a dance party, it's a success...as a fitting remembrance of the man and his influence? Maitland and his cast take the field far too often....the "marching band" should not have yielded.
Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story is presented by Courthouse Center for the Arts through August 22nd and then again at the Park Cinema in Cranston August 27th & 28th. No seats left for the home location in West Kingston, but the Park tickets are plentiful and can be purchased by calling 401-467-7275. More info available at www.courthousearts.org.
