A year later, supported by Paul McCartney, who owned the copyright to Buddy Holly's music, the show was produced at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, before its transfer to London's Victoria Palace.

[6] The 50th Anniversary Tour played concurrently across the UK and starred Oliver Seymour-Marsh and Glen Joseph as Buddy, with Chris Redmond and Dan Graham as the Crickets.

[10] In Germany, the Stage Theatre in Hamburg was built on land next to the river Elbe specifically for Buddy, where the show played for seven years between 1994 and 2001.

The action takes place in Lubbock, Texas; Clovis, New Mexico; New York City and Clear Lake, Iowa; between January 1956 and February 1959.

Within hours, Buddy Holly & the Crickets start to churn out hits from the recording studio built in Norman's backyard, among them "That'll Be The Day", which will rocket up the charts to number one in a matter of weeks.

While recording in New York, Buddy proposes to Maria Elena Santiago, the Puerto Rican receptionist of his music publisher after a courtship of all of five hours.

The story ends on February 3, 1959, after a rocking concert with the "Big Bopper" J.P. Richardson and Ritchie Valens at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.

Buddy makes the fateful decision to break his promise to his pregnant wife not to fly, as he and the other two headliners board a small plane and take off into the night destined for their next show.