Review by Catey Sullivan
Rock of Ages just might be the most shamelessly pandering musical since, oh, the late 1980s. It revels in boobie and poop jokes and stratospherically over-the-top characters. It is a shameless homage to the thrusting power of three-chord rock 'n roll. And it's that very shamelessness that makes the show work. If you're going to set a musical in the most ridiculous decade of the last century, you might as well go as big as conceivably possible in portraying that ridiculousness.
Directed by Scott Weinstein for Oakbrook Terrace's Drury Lane Theatre, Rock of Ages is the kind of show that will send rock snobs screaming for the exits. And probably more than a few musical theater aficionados as well. It is not, as the rambunctiously crude and winningly puerile narrator Lonny (Nicholas Druzbanski) puts it, a show by Sir Andrew Lloyd Schlongheim. Chris D'Arienzo's book and Ethan Popp's arrangements and orchestrations are garish, stupid, juvenile and more fun than a Pac Man tourney in an afterhours juice bar.
The plot follows aspiring rock star Drew (Russell Mernagh) and aspiring actress Sherrie (Cherry Torres) as they navigate the wilds of the Sunset Strip. Their star-cross'd affair plays out as an evil German developer Hertz (George Keating) and his twinkle-toed son Franz (Nick Cosgrove) plot to rid the Strip of its gritty rocker ambiance and replace its iconic clubs with Foot Lockers.
Central to the gentrification plan is the grimy glamorous Bourbon Room, owned by one Dennis DuPre (Gene Weygandt), a Gregg Allman-esque dude who looks like he smells like Woodstock three days in. Our narrator is the aforementioned Lonny, a fellow who isn't above prancing across the stage in his underpants for a cheap laugh.
There is also a die-hard radical protester named Regina (rhymes with vagina), played by Tiffany Tatreau, who once jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge in order to make a point about...something. Finally, there is Stacee Jaxx (Adam Michaels), a rock god with impossibly shiny locks and a fetish involving baby llamas.
Weinstein navigates a tricky balance between charm and strident inanity. Yes, everyone onstage is more or less a cartoon - including the music. No, the show is not without a heart. There is joy and the honesty within these characters, and Weinstein manages to make the humanity shine through, even when Fogmaster 5000 is on blast and the wa-wa pedal is amped up to "11."
It helps tremendously that this cast - which also features the sublime Donica Lynnas a siren-voiced owner of a strip club - can sing with a force that requires no autotune or dubbing. And there's no denying the fun to be had seeing just how Popp's orchestrations and arrangements of '80s tunage is worked into the context of the silly story.
As the nubile Sherrie, Torres can deliver both the emotion and the belt in numbers like "Sister Christian" and "I Hate Myself for Loving You" (the latter deployed during a bruisingly violent lap dance that proves Sherrie is nobody's mindless groupie.) Mernagh makes Drew a goofy boy-next-door whose awkward vulnerability melts away when he launches into the likes of "I Wanna Rock."
Michaels' Stacee Jaxx is an unholy cross between "Jesse's Girl"-era Rick Springfield and "Rock of Love"-era Bret Michaels. His hair is magnificent, as are the pelvic gyrations that makes "Dead or Alive" feel like an outtake for the world's best (or worst, depending on how you want to look at it) Viagra commercial.
Keating has a German accent straight out of "Rocky and Bullwinkle," which is exactly what you want for a character who rails against sex, drugs and rock 'n roll from atop of rolling ladder that positions him like some kind of malevolently scene-chewing Teutonic Zeus. As his fey son Franz, Cosgrove could be Richard Simmons' long lost, deeply insecure younger brother. As clubowner Dennis, Weygandt nails the laid back groove of the perpetually high. Not even death can harsh his buzz.
Druzbanski holds the whole thing together as a narrator who isn't above breaking the fourth wall with the kind of lascivious innuendos that make sixth grade boys giggle. As for the unexpected love story that emerges in the show's final act, it's a thing of beauty.
Everyone is backed by Arsenal, the onstage band that nails the piledriving aesthetic of the '80s. Keyboardist Chris Sargeant, guitarists Dan Petersand Tom Logan, bassist Patrick Williams and drummer Rick Treleasecould surely make a killing as an '80s cover band. Weinstein opens the show by having Peters rise from below the stage, backlit like a full-body glamour shot, his hair whipping in a wind machine that gives him a full-on Fabio effect. It's a visual (and a sound) that perfectly sums up the entire show.
Jeffrey D. Kmiec's set design is fittingly packed with '80s references, including more than a dozen screens that intermittently flicker with projection designer Rasean Davonte Johnson's video touchstones from the decade. And choreographer Stephanie Klemons gives everybody the kind of moves that fueled the early years of MTV.
Rock of Ages won't make you any smarter. Nor will it leave you pondering the deeper mysteries of life. But it will make you wanna rock. And celebrate the excesses that made the 1980s so memorable.
Rock of Ages continues through October 15th at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace (map), with performances Wednesdays at 1:30pm, Thursdays 1:30pm & 8pm, Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 5pm & 8:30pm, Sundays 2pm & 6pm. Tickets are $45-$60, and are available by phone (847-745-3000) or online through their website (check for availability of ). More information at DruryLaneTheatre.com. (Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes, includes an intermission)
Russell Mernagh (Drew), Cherry Torres (Sherrie), Nicholas Druzbanski (Lonny, record company man), Adam Michaels (Stacee Jaxx, father), Gene Weygandt (Dennis, record company man), Nick Cosgrove (Franz), George Keating (Hertz), Donica Lynn (Mother, Justice), Tiffany Tatreau (Regina, Candi), Andrea Collier (young groupie, waitress number two, understudy, Sherrie, reporter), John Edwards (Mayor, Ja'Keith), Annie Jo Ermel (reporter, understudy Regina, Candi, dance captain), Michael Ferraro (swing, understudy Drew, father, Stacee Jaxx, Joey Primo, Mayor, father, Ja'Keith, sleazy producer), Sherriese Hamilton (waitress number one, understudy mother, Justice), Colts Julian (Joey Primo, understudy Lonny, Dennis, Hertz), Lindsay Loretta Prerost (swing), Sawyer Smith (sleazy record producer, understudy Franz)
behind the scenes
Chris Sargeant (conductor, keyboards), (electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Tom Logan (electric guitar), Patrick Williams (bass), Rich Trelease (drums), Carey Deadman, Ethan Deppe (electronic music design).
behind the scenes
Scott Weinstein (director), Stephanie Klemons (choreography), Roberta Duchak (music direction), Jeffrey D. Kmiec (scenic design), Theresa Ham (costume design), Greg Hofmann (lighting design), Ray Nardelli (sound design), Rasean Davonte Johnson (projection design), Larry Baker (stage manager), Brett Beiner (photos)
Tags: 17-0908, Adam Michaels, Andrea Collier, Annie Jo Ermel, Brett Beiner, Carey Deadman, Catey Sullivan, Cherry Torres, Chicago musical theater, Chicago Theater, Chris D'Arienzo, Chris Sargeant, Colts Julian, Dan Peters, Donica lynn, Drury Lane Theatre, Ethan Deppe, Ethan Popp, Gene Weygandt, George Keating, Greg Hofmann, Jeffrey D. Kmiec, John Edwards, Larry Baker, Lindsay Loretta Prerost, Michael Ferraro, Nicholas Druzbanski, Nick Cosgrove, Patrick Williams, post, Rasean Davonte Johnson, Ray Nardelli, Rich Trelease, Roberta Duchak, Russell Mernagh, Sawyer Smith, Scott Weinstein, Sherriese Hamilton, Stephanie Klemons, Theresa Ham, Tiffany Tatreau, Tom Logan
