He was a star who was gone too soon – and his life is celebrated in a musical that has traveled the world.

“Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story” is the latest installment of Broadway in the Basin’s 2017-18 season and is scheduled Tuesday at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center.

The event, presented by Cristiani’s Jewelers, tells the story of Holly’s meteoric rise to fame, from the moment in 1957 when “That’ll be the Day” hit the airwaves until his tragic death less than two years later on “the day the music died.”

The traveling musical features more than 20 of his greatest hits including “That’ll be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Everyday,” “Oh, Boy,” “Not Fade Away and “Raining in my Heart.”

The show also features the Ritchie Valens hit “La Bamba” and the Big Bopper’s hit “Chantilly Lace.” The Big Bopper and Valens were also killed in the plane crash that killed Holly. All were considered rising young stars at the height of their careers.

The more than two hour show, the website stated, is suitable for all ages and features a show that is set in Lubbock, Clovis, New York and Clear Lake, Iowa, which is where the trio’s plane went down in 1959.

Holly was a West Texas boy who grew up in Lubbock and along with friends formed The Crickets.

The ‘Winter Dance Party 1959’ was a tour traveling by bus through the Midwest. The tour is hard work, the weather conditions appalling and the performers are alternating between sleeping in the luggage racks and dropping into hospitals to be treated for frostbite.

Holly’s final performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, with Valens and the Big Bopper’ is recreated. After the concert, Holly breaks his promise to his pregnant wife not to fly as he and the other two headliners board a small plane and fly off into the night for Moorhead, Minnesota, only to crash shortly after take-off. There are no survivors.

If You Go
  • What: Broadway in the Basin presents “The Buddy Holly Story.”
  • When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
  • Where: Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center.
  • Tickets: $42.50 to $90 at wagnernoel.com