Billy Buckett
Jay Turner, Cath Mundy & Peter Cann
Genre: Comedic Drama
Cast size: 14
Duration: Two Act
Jay Turner, Cath Mundy & Peter Cann | Musical | Jukebox | 3m, 3f Support : 2m, 2f Chorus : 2m, 1f, 1m/f
Short synopsis
- Synopsis
- Characters
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It's 1959 in England; just after the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll! 'Billy Buckett' is a musical with comedy, drama and pathos, set amongst the colourful era of Teddy-Boys & Judies.
'Billy Buckett' is a heart-warming, spirited and touching musical set in the late 50's - a time when teenagers were starting to shake off the conforming nature of the past, but having to live in a world of formality, strict parental control and unforgiving moral judgements.
Nineteen-year-old mechanic Billy Buckett oozes musical talent, rock n roll charisma and a couldn’t-care-less cool. Orphaned during the Blitz, the wanna-be pop idol yearns to swap his overalls for fame & fortune, but his soul is crying out for the love & acceptance he has been denied all his life (‘Mind Over Matters Blues’).
While he chases success, Billy needs to make a living so moves to Wickford, a small sleepy town in Essex, to apply for a job as an car mechanic (‘Wot’s Work’).
It is here that Billy meets the vivacious and beautiful Jan Burns who has just graduated from a posh girls’ boarding school. Jan empathises with Billy and captures his heart (‘Tender Is The Night’) but true love finds opposition in Jan’s father who is also Billy’s new boss, the powerful businessman Arthur Burns (‘Self-Made Man’).
Burns and his well-bred wife Helen want the very best for their middle-class daughter, and marriage to a going-nowhere ‘grease monkey’ is not part of their plan.
Aided and abetted by the un-PC garage-foreman Big Ted (‘A Girl Is Like A Car’) and Jan’s best friend, the rebellious Maureen (‘Feather On The Wind’), the young lovers carry on a clandestine love affair. But, they go too far, and when their secret slips, the consequences are devastating. Jan and Billy enter separate worlds of heartbreak and confusion (‘What’ll I Do’).
Billy fights back the only way he knows how – through rock ’n’ roll (‘Wreck Out Of My Heart’). But can he find the happiness he craves? Not if Arthur Burns can help it.
The 19 songs feature original music and ride a 50’s pop-pendulum from toe-tapping, hand-clapping, get-to-your-feet-and-dance numbers like ‘Dynamo’, ‘Daddy’ and ‘Who Were You With’, to the stunningly romantic ‘Tender Is The Night’, the soulful ‘Feather On The Wind’, and the reflective epiphany of ‘Photographs and Memories’.
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