'Rock Of Ages' is a jukebox musical with a contrived story wound around some of the more iconic songs from the age of Heavy Metal, which includes songs from bands like Bon Jovi, Poison, Twisted Sister, and Europe et al, such as 'We Built This City', 'Dead Or Alive', 'I Want To Know What Love Is', 'The Final Countdown', and 'Don't Stop Believin''.
The stage is set almost as if we were going to watch a rock concert. There are more woofers, speakers, amplifiers, etc as well as lights shining both on stage and into the audience, than you could shake a stick at! And once the musical started the sound levels were so high that the whole building started to shake. This truly was a rock concert and if the idea of going prematurely deaf (and possibly blind too) didn't worry you, then you were certainly in the right place.
The story of 'Rock Of Ages' takes us to the famous Bourbon Room on Sunset Strip, owned by aging rocker, Dennis Dupree (Kevin Kennedy). In walks a young and innocent young lady straight off the bus from the mid-west, with dreams and ambitions of stardom, Sherrie (Gabriella Williams). She finds work at the Bourbon Room and falls for an aspiring rock star janitor who works there, Drew Boley (Sam Turrell). At the same time a German developer (Vas Constanti) and his foppish and immature son Franz (David Breeds) convince the mayor (Adam Strong) along with his "dumb-blonde" secretary, Regina (Stephanie Chandos) to shut down those dens of iniquity and build a clean-living development. Unlikely love / sex relationships happen (especially when the Bourbon Room invites superstar stud rocker Stacee Jaxx (Cameron Sharp), in a bid to show the government that they are worthy of staying open. However, this is a rock fable and the rock wins out in the end, and acting as narrator and guide through the story, in a very 'Rocky Horror Show-esque way, was Lonny, played by Tim Oxbrow, hamming it up for all it was worth.
This is the fourth time I have seen this show, and in this particular version, directed and choreographed by Nick Winston, the storyline was not as clearly signposted as it has been previously. I would imagine first-timers having a little difficulty in following the more detailed parts of the plot. The outline is obvious. Not only this, but I think perhaps a 'Parent Advisory' warning or an 18 Cert needs to be placed on this show too. The sex, sexual references, sexuality, etc was played to the hilt. In fact, any excuse was found to add a cheap sexual laugh, and it really was not suitable for some of the younger members present in this evening's audience.
Playing the show for cheap laughs was very much the style of the directing in general throughout. Mono-dimensional, cardboard-cut-out caricatures were the order of the day, which meant that we were not able to invest or sympathise with the characters on stage, but it did mean that we were able to laugh at them more.
An up-beat, full-throttle, blast of a show, that requires nothing more from the audience than a love of loud Glam Metal standards and the ability to laugh at inane American humour. A fun, frivolous, and deftly choreographed show which will appeal to those who like their music loud, their morals loose, and their hair long!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 7.3.23
on - 7.3.23
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