Aylesbury Waterside – until 28 May 2022
Reviewed by Sue Portman
5*****
Rock of Ages is the hilarious musical comedy featuring more than 25 classic rock anthems, including Don’t Stop Believin’, We Built This City, The Final Countdown, Wanted Dead or Alive, Here I Go Again, Can’t Fight this Feeling and I Want To Know What Love Is, all performed by an awesome live band.
Starring X-Factor winner Matt Terry as rock God Stacee Jaxx, this larger-than-life musical tells the tale of big dreams in Hollywood. Soon after hopping off a bus from the Midwest, aspiring singer Sherrie Christian immediately finds herself in trouble. Coming to her rescue is Drew, a bar-back at the legendary club the Bourbon Room. With stars in their eyes, the young lovers chase their dreams, but a misunderstanding involving rock god Stacee Jaxx threatens to tear them apart.
As someone who grew up with this sort of music in the eighties, I might have been a difficult person to please. I mean, this is replicating what I saw and heard originally. Therefore I had some reservations but also looked forward to seeing how it would be presented. I shouldn’t have worried. Right from the get-go I was into the groove.
When Lonnie (Joe Gash) hit the stage as narrator for the evening he instantly captivated this audience. He has a talent for connecting with the audience with his mischievous manner, and boy, can he sing too. When the familiar tones of Cum on Feel the Noize auditioned at my ears from the speakers above, my leg was already twitching. The musical
features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Asia, Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Europe, among other well-known rock bands. The sound quality and musical interpretation were first-class. It is far from easy to try to incorporate rock music into a cohesive storyline but this was seamless. Twisted Sister happen to be one of my favourite bands and I was filled with joy to hear ‘We’re not gonna take it’ in a live setting.
The team sang all of the songs with gusto and if I could have melted every one of them down and injected them into my veins I would have. The Final Countdown (Europe) was especially enjoyable and the audience rose at the end to sing ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ the hit Journey number. Ooooh, it was great fun.
At certain moments I forgot that I was going to write a review about this show – as I would usually pay more attention to detail, but sometimes I just got so lost in the fun that I had to jolt myself back into ‘review mode.’ It was just that good.
The main characters were Drew (Sam Turrell) whose rapport with Sherrie (Gabriella Williams) built steadily to the climax of a kiss that the audience were begging for! You wanted to shout out ‘FOR GOD’S SAKE KISS THE GIRL’ Matt Terry played Stacee Jaxx, the cocky, womanising front man of a band with great aplomb as the audience decided whether
or not to love or hate him, and then there was Dennis Dupree (Kevin Kennedy) the hippie owner of a bar who, interacted with the febrile Lonny as they shared the pain and travails of trying to save the Bourbon Bar from closing when German corporate giants (the fascists!) were trying to knock it down in the name of ‘progress’ by tempting them with hard cash.
Kevin Kennedy was of course best known as the lovable ‘Curly Watts’ from Coronation Street. He can act for sure, but I had no idea just how good a singer he was! Then again he was the bass player with the legendary band ‘The Smith’s’ so he knows a thing or two about music. One scene between him and Lonnie had me (and the people around me) in tears of laughter and one never expected ‘our Curly’ to use the ‘F’ word but it was all in context and splendid entertainment at that.
Vicki Manser adroitly played Regina, the freedom fighter trying to save the bar (and way of life) from the dirty fascists Herts Klinemann (Vas Constanti) and his son Franz, superbly played by Andrew Carthy. The killer line when everyone in the cast thought he was gay and told him sowas to declare ‘I am not gay, I am German.’ Brilliant. In fact on the night, Carthy was my favourite character but be in no doubt, everyone else was outstanding too.
Constanti played the older father figure in a way that endeared him to the audience despite him initially being the baddie. Aaw, he was just misunderstood after all. Billy Roberts (The Mayor) and Erin Bell (Dance Captain) delivered polished performances which added to the enjoyment and presentation of this fantastic musical.
A note in the programme said that the role of ‘Justice’ would be played by Jenny Fitzpatrick and she stunned the audience into willful submission with an absolutely awesome singing voice, and she reminded me of Tina Turner in her prime. That’s the best compliment that I can give. Scott Hayward played Joey Primo and Darius James was Ensemble and again both gave splendid performances alongside everyone else. All of the dancers were seriously good. The musical would have been diminished without them.
There was one scene, where Lonnie and Drew were engaging, and they went off script as Lonnie spontaneously laughed at something funny, (from the audience, perhaps) and Drew went as well. This is a live event and for me it makes it even more fun when things like this occur. Well done to both actors for picking it back up and carrying on. This was the first night of five at the Waterside, and indeed the opening night of the whole tour going through to May 2023 so they were finding their feet in front of an actual audience.
A video screen at the back of the stage was used to subtly aid scene changes, transporting the audience instantly from one scenario to another, supporting the script nicely. I have never seen the audience as engaged as they were tonight at the Waterside Theatre. When we left the venue, everyone wore a broad smile and there was a collective buzz as we squeezed through the doors into the night air. Now that’s the sign of a successful show.
I must add that the Waterside Theatre is a first-class venue. It is friendly, clean and airy with plenty of leg room that counts for a great deal. Having just been squashed in at a venue in Birmingham (I won’t name it) I was delighted to be here! Try it for yourself.
Congratulations then to the whole team from the Director to the person who swept the stage! This production is for adults, or at least not for children that’s for sure, with some colourful language and very sexy (wonderful!) outfits. I do need to mention the choreography and the dancers. The sequences were stunning and clever. They would have
been physically demanding, requiring the energy and precision of Olympic athletes and I was absolutely mesmerised with it all. The stage set was perfectly constructed to support the storyline and the lighting was intelligently created to draw the audience right into the very heart of the scenes.
One of the songs in the musical was Pat Benatar’s ‘Hit me with your best shot.’ Trust me, the cast did just that, delivering a thunderous performance that delighted and dazzled. I just want to find my old tee shirts and keep on rocking.
I do not give 5 stars very often, as there is always room for improvement in any field, but I have every confidence that fans of rock of this type, and musicals in general will simply love this. Rock of Ages is packed with great music, and dance, side-splittingly funny moments and clever one-liners. You will need all your wits about you to absorb everything that is going on. You should get your ticket whilst you can. Now where is that Whitesnake tee-shirt?