Culture
REVIEW: Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story At The Mayflower Theatre
Tonight at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, Buddy Holly played a headline show! Not the real Buddy Holly of course but Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, rocked the Mayflower’s stage just as if the man himself was really there. The juke-box style musical written by Alan Janes, takes a name that many people know and adapts the story of his life onto the stage. Now of course juke-box musicals usually get labelled as being cheesy and not particularly everybody’s cup of tea. However, Buddy much like Jersey Boys and Let it Be, remove that label completely and focus on the individual story and celebration of music. And Buddy has done it extremely well.
Usually with biopic musicals or stories, writers and directors expect the audience to have some common understanding of who the person is – otherwise why would you be there right? Well, one thing that Janes and director Matt Salisbury have done very well is explain Buddy’s story in full detail, so everybody in the audience understands who he is even if you had never heard of him; and not in a patronising way either! Not an easy task. If you do know Buddy’s story, you will know it is also not a very long one (spoiler?). So again, for Janes and Salisbury to stretch out a repeated ’18 month’ story into just a couple of hours, it needed to be done expertly. The show didn’t want to feel slow paced or like it was dragging and one thing the show definitely didn’t feel was slow paced! This musical follows Buddy Holly’s rise to fame and his journey to becoming a rock and roll star, leaving a legacy that the biggest rock and roll musicians credit to him today. It’s funny, heart-warming, and even heart-breaking. All of these things stem from the fantastic cast that intertwine together to bring Buddy Holly and the important people from his story to life.
It’s Buddy Brilliant!
… I know I’ll stop.
One thing that really made the show for me was the fact that every cast member was actually playing an instrument or two live on stage! Acting, following directions, listening for cues and even singing is all an art form in itself. Now add musical instruments into the mix. Unbelievable. Each and every cast member should be extremely proud of themselves because what an incredible job and talent. Bravo! Christopher Weeks who played the role of ‘Buddy Holly’ was just sensational. Not only did he look like and portray Buddy with his mannerisms, but his voice. His voice was just phenomenal and we’ve not even mentioned the guitar yet. To try and avoid spoilers I’ll just say that his guitar solos were impeccable and by the end of the night he had everybody on their feet dancing with him. It was like what I can only imagine being at a real Buddy Holly concert would’ve felt like. A true rock star! Another stand-out performance for me had to be from Thomas Mitchells who played the roles of, get ready: ‘Hipockets Duncan’, ‘Decca Producer’, ‘Norman Petty’, ‘DJ at The Apollo Theatre’, ‘Murray Deutch’, and ‘MC at Clearlake’. Six different roles. SIX! The way he controlled the audience was incredible, at certain points there was interaction with the audience and Mitchells just had everything down perfectly. From the accent changes and an added hat or waistcoat, he transformed character without even leaving the stage and basically acted as the narrator of the story. An incredible performance – well done!
Altogether the cast worked fantastically together and were a really well put together team. I also wanted to give a special shout-out to Joe Butcher (who played the role of ‘Joe B Mauldin’) as what he was doing on the double bass all night was incredible. Although he may have been in the background, at certain moments all eyes were definitely on him.
The set and lighting for the show were simple but great. That’s all it needed to be, after all they were trying to recreate the 50s. Designer, Adrain Rees did an incredible job of transforming the stage to different places just by moving the band instruments around and changing the lighting to suit. A synergy that worked really nicely. One nice touch was the use of a curtain drop at the back of the stage paired with a blackout for the performers to change position, making it seem as if the audience was now on the stage and could see what was happening ‘behind-the-scenes’. Very effective and executed brilliantly. Darren Coopland (lighting designer) certainly didn’t hold back on the lighting during the ‘Clearlake performance’ and the mixed use of old and new lighting really added to the whole feel of the show. As for the music, well it speaks for itself. Musical Director, Dean Elliot made a good choice by using songs from artists other than Buddy to help not only progress the story but set the scene as well. A fantastic idea.
Unfortunately however, there did seem to be a technical problem with microphones. Any dialogue was incredibly difficult to pick up especially when the stage got busy or music/noise was playing in the background. As the interval came around, I heard many of the audience saying the exact same thing, “Are you struggling to hear too?”. Unfortunately again this problem was not solved during the interval so the same problem occurred for the remainder of the show. Of course these technical issues happen and for the opening night there was always going to be niggles. I must add however, that this did not take away from the music (as those microphones were working fine) and the cast did an extremely good job to power through this problem! Another mention to Thomas Mitchells again as his projection and control in particular was fantastic. For the split of events in the musical, it seems as if Act 1 had much more of a story line than Act 2 had. Act 1 takes us through who Buddy is, his quick rise to fame and his big first performance. Whereas Act 2 shares a little bit more of his personal life before really just becoming a big concert, which was incredible!
Buddy takes us on a pit-stop tour of Buddy Holly’s short but incredible career and this does mean that his death also needs to be tackled. From a fast paced build up and concert to explaining his death, back to an up-beat happy ending – Janes and Salisbury were extremely classy and intelligent in the way in which they did this. They inflicted all sorts of different emotions onto the audience within the space of three minutes or less. I saw audience members laughing, crying, then up on their feet dancing and singing along within the same three minutes. It was such an uplifting, powerful and inspiring show that I actually left the theatre wanting to stick a Buddy Holly album on and pick up a guitar. The musical has toured the UK for a recored-breaking 556 weeks and has become a worldwide phenomenon. And I can see why! I wish everybody involved in the show all the luck and success they deserve as the musical continues on its UK tour.
If something looks perfect from the outside does it mean it actually is?
That’s the concept that director Jay Roach brings to life in the new movie The Roses released in August 2025.
The Roses is a reimagining of the 1989 film The War of the Roses which was originally based on Warren Adler’s 1981 novel.
Although unlike the novel the characters instead are shown to struggle with their different careers either rising or falling.
It has been adapted, in my opinion, to make it resonate with women a lot more as in both the novel and first film the women were stay at home mothers who felt unsatisfied.
This appears to be one of the main reasons for the divorces with Barbara (Kathleen Turner) eventually turning to a catering business.
However, within the new modernised version Ivy’s (Olivia Colman) successful career is a point of contempt for Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch).
While it starts off with a more realistic depiction of parents struggling with the loss of a career and a start of a new one, it slowly divulges itself away from the typical divorcee movie.
I watched this movie at the Everyman (luxury I know!) and the grip it had on me as an audience member was outstanding.
With the selection of actors involved in this movie it’s no surprise that there is a mix of comedy and drama making it a satirical black comedy.
While it was delightful to watch, I feel that some audience members might criticise the realism of the movie.
Yet I go to the cinema to be transported from real life so the mix of realism and shock factor was highly entertaining.
A contrasting mix of comedy and darkness
The performances from the actors was exactly what the movie needed.
The chemistry, or lack thereof, between Colman and Cumberbatch was so believable that you would think that they were married in real life.
Their delivery of both the comedy and the rage was again so believable that it sucked me as the audience into what was the “dirty laundry” of their personal lives.
With a supporting cast including Andy Samberg, Allison Janney and others their characters mostly brought the comedy relief needed in to break the movie up.
They also gave us a contrast to the main relationship being shown which helped us recognise how some of the actions were exaggerated for our benefit.
However, some critics online have noted that while it is undeniably a satirical dark comedy, the dark comedy seemed to be held back some times, therefore not always giving it the edge it needed.
I think that for a 15 certificate movie it had just the right amount to stretch over its wide audience.
Another criticism that The Roses received was that the contrast between the comedy and cruelty was sometimes so abrupt that it didn’t hit as hard as it could have.
At some points the comedy seemed out of place which almost gave the film a sort of jarring feel as they changed between the emotions.
The ending is ambiguous which can have mixed reactions from the audience.
Some may like to have the movie tied up neatly at the end whereas others like that they can believe what they want to believe.
I am the latter in the case of this movie as I enjoyed the fact that I could believe either the more macabre ending or not.
To me the ending, without giving any spoilers, had me on the edge of my seat with a real 360 turn.
Again it had the perfect amount of shock factor and comedy which highlighted the overall tone throughout.
I felt that it drew the entire film together nicely especially with the ending performance from Coleman and Cumberbatch.
Winchester original artist Sam Bishop has been releasing music for almost a decade but after not releasing a new song for the last two years, Just a Little is set to be release this Friday, February 7th.
Sam first got into music when he was in secondary school, after watching Imagine Dragons in the O2 he fell in love with their support act.
As an only child he has always been a creative person, writing stories and songs in his free time.
The first thought has never been how can I perform live but how can I write?
Sam also enjoyed:”I enjoy feeling nervous but eventually acting felt like second nature, so I decided to give music a go.”
After getting into music in school Sam released his first song in 2016.
“It has been trial and error since with each year getting better and better performing and writing more.”
I asked him whether he has always written his own songs, and he explained: “The first thought has never been how can I perform live but how can I write?
“That’s the angle I attack music with.”
For Sam music has always been a way to express how he feels.
But what’s the best part of the writing process?
Well, for Sam it’s the feeling of a song coming together as a whole, he compared the writing process to a tap, that it slowly drips until it starts to flow.
“You get a melody and a good lyric. It feels amazing when it all comes together it’s so special, it’s definitely a process it takes time and trial and error.”
Sam’s new single Just a Little, is no different, going through this same process, and has now come together ready for its release this Friday.
It all started in last summer, when Sam was on a flight from Miami to LA, he wasn’t interested in watching the typical films you find on airplanes, and felt creative, this is where the chorus for Just a Little was born.
Being away from family for a prolonged amount of time through working away and travelling gave Sam the feeling of wanting to be connected and keep in touch with people’s lives whilst being away.
Just a Little is about questioning whether you’re enough.
It’s a song full of vulnerability and expressing that and truly allowing yourself to feel those feelings.
After Sam’s travels he got home and revisited the song, from there it started to take off and really build.
He sent the song to his friend Toby who he describes as an unbelievable guitarist, and an excellent musician.
Toby then worked on the song as a production, whilst Sam worked on the lyrics.
Just a Little was kind of a one off, as a process it was very natural.
By mid-November the song was finished and now is the time for its release.
This song has a different sound to Sam’s previous songs, and he’s excited for people to hear this new style of music from him.
“It’s a very personal song washed under happy and jolly music.
“It’s very current and popular; something you’d expect to hear on the radio.”
Sam hopes that that the release allows people to connect with not just the lyrics but how the song feels.
Following the release Sam has big plans for the next year.
This is the start of a new sound for him, and he hopes more songs like this will follow with maybe one or two before the end of the year.
There are also a number of gigs to be announced for the next three months that he is looking forward to performing.
At the end of our interview Sam said: “Songs will happen, it’s what I love to do it’s so expressive as an art form and it’s something I will always want to do.
“Just a Little was kind of a one off, as a process it was very natural.
After not releasing a song for two years, once the lyrics were finished and he got the song back from Toby he knew this was the one that this would be the re-release of his music as an original artist.
Just a Little is out at midnight February 7th.
For announcements of new music and dates of performances you can follow Sam on Instagram @sambishopmusician.
The wait is over for Winchester’s burger lovers, as a new Five Guys restaurant has opened in the heart of the city centre.
The American burger chain, world famous for its customisable smash burgers and seemingly bottomless fries opened on Monday, December 2nd.
It was a soft launch without any ceremony for the restaurant, but the new staff and management immediately had a growing queue of customers on their hands.
Five Guys has taken one of three units from the former Debenhams department store. The other two are Nando’s which opened last month and Pizza Express.
Founded in Virginia in 1986, Five Guys launched in the UK in 2013 and has become a popular choice for burger lovers, including celebrities such as Tommy Fury, Mollie King, Ed Sheeran, and Maya Jama.
There are now 1,800 restaurants worldwide including 171 in the UK.
The new Winchester branch is expected to be a popular addition to the city’s food scene.
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