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John Mueller\u2019s Winter Dance Party\u00ae\u00a0is the official No. 1 tribute to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. Each live concert performance includes over two hours of unbridled, high voltage entertainment featuring all the hit songs of the Fifties era:\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019ll Be The Day\u201d, \u201cPeggy Sue\u201d, \u201cOh, Boy\u201d, \u201cRave On\u201d, \u201cLa Bamba\u201d, \u201cChantilly Lace\u201d, and many, many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The powerful cast has a legendary performance record. John Mueller, the critically acclaimed former star of the U.S. touring version of the London\/Broadway hit musical Buddy \u2026 the Buddy Holly Story<\/em>, performs as Buddy Holly with Linwood Sasser as the Big Bopper and Ray Anthony as Ritchie Valens. The very authentic and energetic four piece band (guitar, drums, stand-up bass and sax) includes Grammy award winning Mike Acosta on saxophone. The Winter Dance Party show has performed in front of over 2 million people on national TV for the Jerry Lewis Telethon, has toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada at theatres, performing arts centers, ballrooms, corporate events, casinos and even for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with John Mellencamp, Marshall Crenshaw, and others. Highlights over the years have included performing with Grammy winner Peter Nero and the Philly Pops Orchestra, receiving the keys to the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, from the mayor, playing in the legendary Surf ballroom on the same day Buddy, Ritchie, and the Big Bopper did 50 years prior and performing on stage with Maria Elena Holly (Buddy\u2019s widow), Niki Sullivan (an original Cricket band member) and Tommy Allsup (original Winter Dance Party guitarist and legendary Nashville producer.) \u201cFlawless \u2026 rings as clear and true as a chord from a Fender Stratocaster.\u201d \u201cAn air tight band with energy-packed execution of a long string of classics. Rather than museum pieces or mere fodder for oldies radio, these songs had all the vitality and punch that they carried 50 years ago.\u201d \u201cWinter Dance Party captures Holly era\u2026a dead-on re-creation of the \u201959 show.\u201d \u201cJohn Mueller (as Buddy Holly) gives a stunning portrayal. Highly recommended.\u201d This Van Wert Live event at the Niswonger will take the audience back to an era of feel-good music that has never been replicated. The ticket prices from $25-$35 also accommodate a feel-good budget and reflect a high-quality performance purchased at a value price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Van Wert Area Performing Arts Foundation is committed to bringing Van Wert Live events that are the highest quality shows at a price that is affordable to keep Van Wert warm with entertainment all year long!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Old Man Winter has not only tapped us on the shoulder to let us know he’s still around, he’s given us a less than gentle nudge with a cold snap of temperatures in January. This cold reality brings with it one temperature rising solution. It’s time for a Winter Dance Party! Niswonger ticket buyers will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 01:55:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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–The Chicago Tribune
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–Springfield State Journal Register
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–Kalamazoo Gazette
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–Chicago Sun Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Winter-Dance-Party-promo-pic-1-2020.jpg\")
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