While Sherrie is misreading Drew’s signals and getting sidetracked by debauched metal star Stacee Jaxx (James Carpinello), a German developer (Paul Schoeffler) strikes a deal to replace the Strip with a strip mall, sparking a protest to save the club. His star-crossed lovers are busboy and wannabe rocker Drew (“American Idol” alum Constantine Maroulis) and aspiring actress Sherrie Christian ( Amy Spanger), a Kansas gal whose name dictates we’ll be hearing both Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” and Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” before long. Narrator, or self-described “dramatic conjurer,” is sound guy Lonny (Mitchell Jarvis), an ingratiating Jack Black clone who winks at the audience with every hoary contrivance. But behind the show’s trashy facade lies a conventionally sweet musical that traces the standard trajectory of boy meets, loses and finally wins girl. That setting frames Dupree’s Bourbon Room, a fictional venue festooned with bras and panties of groupies past. Beowulf Boritt’s witty set is a jumble of iconic signage - the Chateau Marmont, an Angelyne billboard, Jack Daniels ads - that re-creates Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip in the ’80s.
The air is thick with fog and a whiff of armpit that could be an olfactory effect or a hard-working drinks waiter - the show has in-seat cocktail service, something you don’t get at “Irena’s Vow.” The merchandise stands are doing brisk sales in “Hooray for Boobies” T-shirts, while seemingly heterosexual bartenders shout, “Splash of cran, ladies?” Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in the theater district any more.Īs the show opens with blinding lights, ear-shredding guitars and hammer-handed drumming, it’s clear that mosh-pit atmosphere is paramount.
A New Line movie currently in the works can’t hurt the branding profile of “Rock of Ages,” either.Įven before curtain, the atmosphere at the Brooks Atkinson is less like Broadway than a concert experience. That music may not feature heavily in the iTunes libraries of Broadway show fans, but given the eternal push to find new theater audiences, maybe it’s not a bad idea to bypass the regulars once in a while and speak directly to the bridge and tunnel crowd. With their grandiose mini-narratives about small-town girls and city boys following their dreams and finding love, or at least rock ‘n’ roll heaven, amid the heartache, the overproduced songs of bands like Styx, Poison, Foreigner, Europe, Asia and Survivor are a surprisingly snug fit for musical treatment.
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