Has it really been a decade since Rock of Ages arrived in all its turquoise fishnet–wrapped and acid-washed denim–clad glory on Broadway—earning a (let’s face it) shocking five Tony nominations, including Best Musical; racking up more than 2,300 performances; and spawning a 2012 feature film best remembered for Tom Cruise’s go-for-broke, sweat-soaked rendition of “Pour Some Sugar on Me”? Yes, yes it has.
Back at off-Broadway’s New World Stages, where the show got its start in fall 2008, Rock of Ages hasn’t lost any of its cheeseball charm. It’s even acquired a couple new songs, now that Def Leppard has given permission to use “Rock of Ages” and the aforementioned “Sugar” (the band balked during the show’s original run). The hair is still high, the skirts are still short, and the audiences are still screaming like they’re watching Jon Bon Jovi himself—not PJ Griffith playing self-centered rocker Stacee Jaxx—sing “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
Such rabid enthusiasm could, of course, be alcohol-induced. Who knows what kind of concoction the servers are peddling in those test-tube shots? (My friend and I opted for the Don’t Stop A-Peachin’, a $17 Sex on the Beach in a souvenir cup.) But if you’re at Rock of Ages, you’re there for one reason and one reason only: to rock out to one ’80s hit after another by bands including Foreigner, Poison, Quiet Riot, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister, Whitesnake, and more. The score is essentially the best Gen X mixtape ever.
If you’re a stickler for plausible plots, well, Jersey Boys is playing down the hall. Even Rock of Ages’ lovable loser narrator, Lonny (Mitchell Jarvis, who originated the role and plays a mean air-guitar plunger), has a tough time keeping a straight face during the serious moments. Then again, he is wearing a “Hooray for Boobies” T-shirt. But here’s the so-called story: Aspiring actress Sherrie (a knockout Kirsten Scott)—whose character name is surely an excuse to use Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie”—arrives in Los Angeles with a suitcase and a dream and falls for aspiring rocker Drew (vocal powerhouse CJ Eldred, equally at home with heavy metal and power ballads), a barback at the legendary Bourbon Room, owned by Dennis (Matt Ban). That’s also where she meets Jaxx, who tosses her to the curb after a men’s-room tryst.
Meanwhile, German real estate developer Hertz (Tom Galantich) and his aspiring chocolatier son Franz (Dane Biren) want to raze the Bourbon Room and sanitize the Sunset Strip, setting off a series of protests from city planner Regina (Tiffany Engen) to the tune of “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” and Starship’s “We Built This City”—which GQ once called “the most detested song in human history,” likening it to “a barnacle made of synthesizers and cocaine.”
In case you had any doubt about how this thing ends, just a reminder that Sherrie is “a small-town girl/ Living in a lonely world,” and Drew is “a city boy/ Born and raised in South Detroit.” It’s only a matter of time before everyone is going to be singing “Don’t Stop Believin’”—and I do mean everyone. Normally I don’t encourage this sort of audience participation during a show, but at Rock of Ages it’s almost a requirement.
Rock of Ages runs through Oct. 6 at New World Stages. Tickets and information: rockofagesmusical.com
