Buddy Holly Hall to kick off Broadway series with namesake ‘BUDDY: The Buddy Holly Story’

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Buddy Holly Hall is welcoming the first Broadway performance in its history next week. The debut show celebrates its namesake. Keaton Eckhoff plays the plays the rock and roll legend in “BUDDY: The Buddy Holly Story.”

“Just being able to go to his hometown and be able to like perform for the people who really knew him best is just such an amazing honor,” Eckhoff said.

He says it’s an honor to play the musical genius, but with great power comes great responsibility.

“In a weird way it’s like carrying a torch, you know what I mean? Because everyone knows his music and his songs and when they close their eyes, I want them to hear as close as what I can give to Buddy’s actual performance,” Eckhoff said.

The musical includes more than 20 of his greatest hits, like “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue.” Eckhoff says the story starts at Buddy’s early career and walks slowly to his rise to fame.

“You see him perform at the Apollo theater. You see him perform at Clear Lake. You see him meet Maria Elena. You see him, his journey with the Crickets evolve. It’s really just about like sort of like three years of his life captured in this musical,” Eckhoff said.

While the cast is in town, they’ll make a few pit stops.

“We’re going to explore the Buddy Holly Museum, explore a couple places in Lubbock where he actually was living and where Jerry Allison lived. And just like go explore and really get a feel for what Buddy like experienced as a kid growing up and in the town, you know,” Eckhoff said.

You can catch the performances at the Buddy Holly Hall Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p. m.

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