Brooks Atkinson Theatre
256 West 47th Street
Saturday March 27, 2010 8:00PM
Rock of Ages is the new broadway musical based on the best rock pop hits of the 1980’s. The story takes place for the majority at the fictional “Bourbon Room” on the Sunset Strip. Drew is a bar back and dreams of making it big with his music. He meets Sherrie once she gets off the bus from the mid west. She is here to try and make it big as an actress. The story follows their stereo typical ups and downs of courtship. The Bourbon Room is owned by Dennis and has Lonny as the other bar back, who also serves as the stories narrator. Drew gets his shot at fame replacing Stacee Jaxx, famed lead singer of Aresenal. They are performing their final gig at the Bourbon Room in attempt to save it from being torn down by German developer Hertz and his son Franz. The story goes on to show the ups and downs of each character.
The songs/story are told through the most famous 80’s hits and ballads such as “Sister Christian”, “I Wanna Rock”, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, “I Want to Know What Love Is”, “Cum on feel the Noize”, “Here I Go Again”, “The Final Countdown”, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, and “Don’t Stop Believin’”.
I absolutely loved this show. It is no Sondheim but just plain fun. The story is thin and predictable but the music and characters are infectious. For me personally it was like this is from the heavens – 80’s hair metal and broadway – my two favorite things!! My foot was tapping through the whole show and I was mouthing every work with the biggest smile. I have heard horror stories of the audience at this show, but this one was pretty contained (seeming I think my roommate and I were the youngest ones there). EVERYONE looked like they were having a good time but no one was outrageous, though I could see how they could be. Waiters/waitresses serve beer and drinks to you in your seat and some people forget this isn’t a concert. We won lotto tickets so our seats were Mezz Row C Right last seats on the far aisle. Great seats but the “bar” area & most of the projection screen were blocked. For $26 on a Saturday night show I wasn’t going to complain. There entire Mezz was packed.
A lot of people were audibly upset to find an understudy slip showing Constantine Margoulis was out and Joey Taranto was on. I never saw Constantine but Joey was amazing. He looked like he was between 18-20 and just showed that youthful innocence in a world of creepiness. His voice soared and was full of energy. He is not listed regularly in the playbill yet and I heard someone say this was his first day on, and if so, wow! You wouldn’t have known. Emily Padgett was on as Sherrie and did a good job, although whether it was her or just the role, but I had no use for it. I was bored whenever she was on. The rest of the cast were awesome as well.
The stand outs for me were:
Mitchell Jarvis (Lonny) – Oh my god, he was unbelievable. You can essentially compare him to a Jack Black type character but his comedic timing was just so enjoyable. Everything he did just had you cracking up hysterically. Especially loved him and Adam Dannheisser (Dennis) in “Can’t Fight This Feeling”!! I bartended at my usual place on Sunday and just wished I had a Lonny character working there!
James Carpinello (Stacee Jaxx) – I enjoyed his voice prior to ROA but wow! He plays the sleezy typical 80’s hair band super star (think Brett Michaels) and just nails it. (Ok, maybe it is because I have a thing for sleezy typical 80’s hair band types but shhh don’t tell anyone). He looks great shirtless and just has great stage presence. I especially loved him singing “Sister Christian”, which is a personal favorite of mine.
Derek St. Pierre (Franz) – I’m pretty sure that he is one of most peoples favorite characters. Franz is the flamboyant son of German developer Hertz who stands up for himself in the end. It is a cheesy role but so much fun.
If you love your 80’s rock, then get yourself to the Brook Atkinson theater! I will definitely be seeing it again. It is such a shame that Chris never got to see this show as I think he would have loved it even more than I did. For once I wouldn’t have heard “Do I really have too?” before heading out of the house! But I’m sure he was near me somewhere rocking out as well.
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