Buddy- Arts Theatre, Marie Clark Musical Theatre Company

Marie Clark has a tough act to follow after its astounding production of "Miss Saigon" earlier in the year. It's fair to say that this little company has worked hard, very hard, to try and punch above its own weight for a number of years now. "Buddy" has some great positives and a few negatives.

The cast give it their absolute best. The show has many wonderful performances, headlined by the brilliant Dominic Hodges as the iconic rocker Buddy Holly. Hodges looks the part and does a pretty good impression of the man's unique voice. His accent is consistent and his charisma on the stage is pretty good as well. He may be lacking the absolute final polish on his concert persona but for the most part it is an outstanding performance.

The rest of the cast ably back him. Sophie Hamilton absolutely shines as Holly's wife, Maria Elena. Blessed with gorgeous looks and charisma, she makes a joy out of, what is, a fairly minor role in the show. Sadly, we are only granted a small hint at her amazing vocal skills. Brendon Liley does a brilliant job recapturing the vibe of The Big Bopper whilst Travis Rae delivers two solid performances as both producer Norman Petty and Ritchie Valens. Cara Brown, Jessica Knights, Kristin Stefanoff, Shay Aitken and Angus Smith all provide memorable highlights in their various roles throughout the night.

Victoria Beal has provided some catchy choreography while Emma Knights has an amazing little ensemble at her command (including Brody Green and Milush Piochaud who double as The Crickets extremely well). Greg Donhardt directs the show admirably for his first outing as director.

The biggest let down of this show is the show itself. One of the first jukebox musicals, it suffers from a lack of plot, poor dialogue and small scenes that mean a lot of blackouts and scene changes, especially in act one. It ruins the momentum that the actors develop and as a consequence drags the show to about 15 minutes longer than it needs to be. Also the creators felt that the only way to present Holly's songs onstage was to either show him recording them or performing them in concert. In a way it's more realistic, but it also limits where and when these wonderful songs can be heard. It's also true that the stage crew were a little slow with their changes which doesn't help things either. It's really the only thing that brings the evening down.

If you are a fan of Holly, or of 50's music in general (as most of the audience were on the night I was there) then you'll enjoy this retelling immensely.