HiPockets Duncan, played by Ray Deal, left, gives as good as he gets from his client Buddy Holly, Chris Brantley, in Tyler Civic Theatre Company's production of "The Buddy Holly Story" opening July 23, 2015. (Cory McCoy/Staff)

Buddy Holly is one of the most iconic musicians of all time. A veil of mystique surrounds his short, but explosive career. Tyler Civic Theatre Company wants to introduce audiences not only to Buddy Holly’s music, but the man himself in “The Buddy Holly Story,” opening July 23.

“We don’t know a whole lot about him, because he died so young and his career was so short, but so much happened in that period of time,” Chris Brantley, who plays the titular character, said. “The story starts with him just breaking into this new thing called Rock’ n’ Roll.”

The play opens with a rebellious, 21-year-old Holly fighting with his manager and scoring a record deal, just to battle with studio executives.

The cast, directed by Charles Praytor, pull off a technically impressive feat with the play’s music. Brantley, Praytor and others step onto a stage within the stage and play live, deftly tackling 20 of the bespectacled crooner’s greatest hits between the drama.

“The music is definitely challenging,” Brantley said. “We’re basically taking 20 songs that mark this guy’s whole career and we’ve only been playing them two months. It will be amazing if we pull that off, we’ll leave that up to the audience.”

In addition to the challenge of performing live with a group that only recently began playing together, Brantley also had to face the intimidating task of transforming himself into Holly’s spitting image.

“I don’t look anything like Buddy Holly, I’m a flaming red head and I’ve never played any Buddy Holly songs, but I decided to give it a shot,” Brantley said.

Praytor takes on double duties playing Joe Mauldin, in part because he wasn’t able to find a bass player.

“The biggest difficulty is that we have to lock down the band stand. It always has to be there,” Praytor said. “It’s been a challenge, but it’s also been very rewarding seeing it all come together.”

Praytor is prepared to take audiences on a musical ride from Lubbock in 1957 through that fateful night when Holly broke a promise about not flying to his young wife and boarded a plane with Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.

“We’ve got a great cast, it’s a great story,” Praytor said. “It’s well written and I think the audience will enjoy discovering these songs live.”

Every cast member has a favorite Holly song. For Praytor it’s Oh, Boy! and Brantley will take any of the ballads. Tyler Civic Theatre Company hopes audiences will come out and discover a favorite Holly song themselves.

“The Buddy Holly Story” runs from July 23 to July 26 and July 30 to August 2, with 7:30 p.m. show times each night and 2:30 p.m. matinees on Sundays.

For tickets or more information, visit tylercivictheatre.com

Twitter: @TMT_Cory