Buddy, the biggest rock & roll musical comes to Wales Millennium Centre

19 hours ago
2 min read

Mega-smash musical Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story comes to Wales Millennium Centre from 14-17 May 2026.

Buddy – the original ‘jukebox’ musical – has enjoyed phenomenal success, playing a record-breaking 4,900 performances over 614 weeks on tour in the UK and Ireland, as well as 5,822 performances over 728 weeks in London’s West End.

Featuring a multi-talented cast of actor-musicians, Buddy presents two terrific hours of music with over 20 of Buddy Holly’s greatest hits, including such timeless classics as That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Everyday and Rave On. With the Big Bopper’s Chantilly Lace and Ritchie Valens’ La Bamba, rip-roaring versions of Shout and Johnny B. Goode completing a stellar musical line-up, Buddy is a not-to-be-missed evening of family-friendly entertainment.

Loved by critics and audiences alike, Buddy tells the enduring story of the musical icon’s meteoric rise from his Southern rockabilly beginnings to international stardom, culminating in his legendary final performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, before his tragic and untimely death on February 3rd, 1959 at the age of just 22. This became known as ‘the Day the Music Died’ as Don McLean called it in his song American Pie. In 18 short months the bespectacled boy from Lubbock, Texas, revolutionised the face of contemporary music, and would influence everyone from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen.

Writer/Executive Producer Alan Janes says: “It really is incredible, over 35 years since we first opened, the show is back still spreading joy to every corner of the country. This is testament to a wonderful, extremely talented cast and some of the finest Rock & Roll tunes ever written by the one and only Buddy Holly.”

Buddy has inspired a generation of multi-million ticket selling jukebox musicals yet remains a true original and musical phenomenon. Seen by over 22 million theatregoers since it first opened in London’s West End in 1989, this “gem of a musical” (Daily Express) continues to have audiences dancing in the aisles across the globe!

The Buddy Holly Story comes to Wales Millennium Centre from 14-17 May 2026, tickets at wmc.org.uk.