‘Buddy’ up to Holly as a touring tribute to the legendary rocker debuts

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2000 | 9:57 a.m.

Buddy Holly himself sang it:

"Rave On."

That's the prevailing message from a musician whose career and life have been measured and remembered almost entirely in song. The Holly story -- equal parts inspiration and tragedy -- will be celebrated (again) with the musical "Buddy ... The Buddy Holly Story."

The roving production touches down in Las Vegas tonight and runs through March 5 at the Las Vegas Hilton.

"It's truly an amazing story, more than anything," Van Zeiler, who plays Holly in the biographical tribute, said during a recent phone interview. "People all the time will say, 'Is this true? Did all of this really happen that quickly and in that short a period of time?' "

The musical debuted in London in 1989 and has been touring the U.S. since November. The show is a beginning-to-end, top-to-bottom look at Holly's short life and meteoric career. It briskly covers his days singing country music in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, to his stint with the Crickets (including the band's triumphant performance at the Apollo Theater, the first white act to perform at the legendary hall). It ends sadly, with the climactic re-creation of Holly's final performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, with Richie Valens, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Dion on Feb. 2, 1959.

It was the night rock 'n' roll fans (thanks to Don McLean) refer to as "the day the music died," when Holly, Valens and Richardson were killed in a plane crash flying out of Mason City, Iowa. But even after just a little more than two active years as a rock 'n' roll performer, by the time of his death at age 22 Holly had notched eight Top-40 hits, including his best-selling "That'll Be The Day," which hit No. 1 in 1957.

More telling, Holly inspired an entire generation of musicians and songwriters; the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, the Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana, Linda Rondstadt, John Denver, James Taylor and John Cougar Mellencamp are among the artists to cover Holly tunes. Along with McLean's classic "American Pie," Holly's memory was honored in the 1978 film "The Buddy Holly Story," earning Gary Busey an Oscar nomination for his performance as Holly.

Holly was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

"The effect he had on a great cross-section of artists in a very short period of time is so remarkable," Zeiler said. "The story itself is amazing, astounding. It's great enough to be fiction, and you don't have to be a huge Buddy Holly fan to enjoy the story."

Zeiler wasn't a Holly buff when, while living and working in New York nearly three years ago, he answered a classified ad for "Buddy," which had been garnering laudatory reviews in England.

"I was working as an actor, small things, one-day-on-a-soap-opera kind of things," Zeiler said. "But I had a musical background and came from a musical family -- I played the guitar and had dabbled in the violin, piano and drums -- so I went and auditioned."

Zeiler, who was also performing with an acoustic guitar as a club musician at the time, fit the part nearly perfectly and was asked back for a second audition for the "Buddy" company in London. He won the part and has since run into Holly fans of all sorts.

"We get everyone from 6-year-old kids to 85-year-old grandmothers who come in on a tour bus," he said. "For some it's just a good time, a way to enjoy his music. For others it's a nostalgic throwback to the music they might've grown up with."

"Buddy" doesn't quite make it to Clear Lake, but the people there still feel Holly's influence. The Surf Ballroom celebrates the anniversary of the Winter Dance Tour -- a scatter-shot series of one-night stands in the Midwest that culminated in Holly's death -- the first weekend of each February.

"We've got a lot of Buddy Holly memorabilia on display and we're very connected with his memory," Jennifer Kuppinger, office manager of the 2,200-capacity Surf Ballroom, said. "We've got a larger collection than the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. We've had a lot of famous musicians come through here through the years -- Waylon Jennings, the Crickets, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Del Shannon -- and they all sign the dressing room wall that Buddy used that night."

Dave Theis, a local businessman and a member of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, has lived with the Holly legacy since moving to the small Iowa resort town in 1968.

"I knew when I moved here I was moving into history," Theis said. "We started up the Winter Dance Party in 1979, on the 20th anniversary of his death, and it's really grown over a period of time. It's not a sad time, but a nostalgic reunion that extends beyond music."

The Clear Lake show serves as the culmination of "Buddy" and Zeiler says he gets chills each night he re-creates the final performance.

"It's really moving, and the great thing about the show is this was a tangible thing that actually happened that affected a lot of people," Zeiler said. "It's certainly the climactic point and it's very poignant."

Zeiler also has a chance to work regularly with his wife, Victoria Stilwell, who plays Holly's widow, Maria. Just prior to the show-ending Surf Ballroom performance, Zeiler and Stilwell share a dramatic scene.

"It's one of the last acting scenes, before Buddy goes on tour, and I sing 'True Love Ways' to Victoria," Zeiler said. "It's a very special moment."

Zeiler's contract calls for him to play Holly for another five months. He's not concerned with becoming typecast or being unable to find work outside the rock 'n' roll tribute.

"I've done it in so many different markets I don't see it being a problem," Zeiler said. "It's given me a chance to show acting and musical skills and reach people all over the country."

Having studied Holly extensively for years, Zeiler does have an opinion about what the bespectacled rock 'n' roller would've become had he not perished at such a young age. Some music critics argue that Holly would never have survived the rock 'n' roll explosion of the '60s and would have drifted from the limelight as the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Who dramatically altered the musical landscape.

But Zeiler contends that Holly would have persevered in any era.

"I'm sure he would've pushed the limit and maybe even failed a few times before finding his niche," Zeiler said. "He was a risk-taker, an innovator with vision, and he would've kept pushing things to the next level. I think he would've owned his own record label, or he might have been a huge actor -- he had a dynamic personality."

But probably, Holly would have made his mark in music.

"He would still be in the studio as a musician and producer," Zeiler said. "Who knows? He might've been the Quincy Jones of the moment."