Jared Mancuso has been traveling the country paying tribute to the music of Buddy Holly. He talks about the music, the audience reaction and much more as he sat down with us to preview The Buddy Holly Story, which is at the Algonquin Arts Theatre from April 1 to April 9.
Algonquin: How did playing the role of Buddy Holly become a regular thing for you?
Jared: "I don't know that I knew I could sound like him. I knew that I had a similar look to him growing up, and I'd known about The Buddy Holly Story being a show, that existed, in the world. And I was an actor, I went to school for theatre. It was something that I wanted to be a part of growing up and playing music and listening to music. It wasn't really until I actually got cast in the role that I was able to put into practice sounding like him and then it all came together."
Algonquin: What's so special about this music?
Jared: "I've been a musician basically my whole life, and I really find something amazing about that era of music. It was so apparent that it was being influenced by blues and country music before it, and then it also went on to inspire music way beyond its time. As a musician myself I make my own albums and I make my own music and I'm very inspired by what Buddy Holly did in terms of its simplicity and how he created this three piece band and four piece band concept, and it's really good rock and roll music. It's hard to imagine not loving it naturally, the second you hear it, it's so good."
Algonquin: What does the 'story' portion of this show cover?
Jared: "The Buddy Holly Story essentially covers Buddy's 18-month rise to fame and how he had such a huge impact on the music world in such a short time. It chronicles from him fighting country music and being a country star to him making his mark in the rock and roll world all the way until the day the music died."
Algonquin: What has been the best part of playing this role in multiple productions?
Jared: " The best part is how the audience responds. It's been amazing. They go back to a place. A lot of the people I've talked to after shows come up to me and say 'I remember when that happened. I remember when he died.' There was a woman who said to me that her husband had died about a year before she had seen the show and she wasn't sure that she wanted to come see the show because she remembered that when they first got married that they would dance in the kitchen to Buddy Holly music. When she came and saw the show it brought up a lot of memories for her. That's the most amazing part about doing this show, unlike a lot of other shows, it really does bring up a ton of memories for people, positive memories for people of simple times or loving times. Everyone has their own personal journey, and music is a part of it. Always."
Algonquin: Is there a point where you can see from the stage the audience start to respond?
Jared: "The second we scream 'now' and go right into 'Ready Teddy' I can see the audience completely light up. They are clapping along, and singing the lyrics and it's awesome. It makes me feel like I'm famous in a way."
Algonquin: How are the preparations going for this production?
Jared: "Nathan (who plays Joe B Maudlin) and I were talking about this. It really is all about this music. It's so strange because before this production I'd never met them (Nathan & Jason Cohen, who plays Jerry Allison) before, but it's amazing that on day 1 that we can just come together and (snaps) it's like that. We can play the music, we know it and it lives in us."
Algonquin: Why should someone buy a ticket to see this show?
Jared: "If you want to come and have a party, this is your best bet. You're going to come and relive your childhood, you're going to want to get up and dance. The last half hour of the show alone is worth the price of admission. It's non-stop music. Rock and roll music. You want to come and see this show because of rock and roll music."
The Algonquin Arts Theatre is located at 173 Main Street in Manasquan, NJ.
