By Bill Burk
If you don’t own a Fogmaster 5,000, after you see the hit the show “Rock of Ages”, playing at the Lucille Ball Little Theater in Jamestown, you are going to want one.
“Rock of Ages” is a Broadway musical from 2009 adapted for Little Theater by director Jim Foley. It’s cute as a peyote button with enough rough edges to make an adult blush (it’s rated PG13, probably not for the young, but they won’t get the music or nostalgic references anyways).
The irreverence and tone start with curtain-up, the stage built like a dive bar with recognizable 80’s memorabilia (some old basements and attics were raided for this impressive design), and the obligatory theater instructions include, and, I paraphrase here, “texting during a play makes you look like an -expletive-deleted-, and if you have one of those ear things, just leave, you flat out don’t belong here.”
The show is set in the 1980s and centers around a rock-and-roll bar in Los Angeles. The plot lines are cliché, familiar fare; boy meets girl, boy loses girl in the most naïve, forehead-slapping way, boy wins girl back. There’s good (manifested as Rock and Roll culture) versus evil (greed and progress). There’s the past (father) rubbing against the new generation (son), with the inevitable reconciliation in the end (father sees the error of his old-fashioned ways). There’s a bad guy who wins early but gets his predictable comeuppance.
It’s a feel-good story as a vehicle to listen to some classic 80’s rock and roll, to sing along to some of the most fun, sincere music in rock history, and re-live the good ol’ days if you’re of a certain age (meaning old enough to have had big hair and wear a mesh shirt in public).
Act one sets the tone, the narrative, the antagonists and the heroes. Act two moves at a hectic clip to reconcile the plot arcs. A comedic, crooning narrator (energetically played by Micheal Correy sporting an over-the-top mullet and jean jacket) guides the action and the songs, breaking the fourth wall so much that it feels like the stage extends into the first row. He’s Foley’s raunchy, triple-entendre rock star wanna-be Puck, who sets the scenes, moves the plot, and hilariously tells the audience when to expect Jazz Hands (trust me on this one).
The backing band is tight and skilled. They play throughout the production, and you can’t wait for them to intro their next song (complimentary air guitars in every seat). Almost everyone in this cast has the pipes to pull off a full-on rock and roll tribute concert. Some of those classic 80’s rock high notes from big-hair bands are held pitch-perfect, enough to make a throat sore. The two leads, Jackie Bieleta as Sherrie (an incandescent presence, the eye seeks her out even in scenes where she isn’t featured) and Titus Miller as Drew (endearing with weighty range) have special harmonic integrity in their duets. The ensemble scenes are raucous and busy with the back-up band providing a constant stream of quality, a cover band you’d pay to see.
You can wonder if the music informs the plot, or the other way around. If the Song “We Built This City on Rock and Roll” (Starship, 1985) fits the genre, do you set the play on Sunset Strip? Maybe.
If a theme is rebellious protesting against “the man”, do you feature the anthem “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (Twisted Sister, 1984)? Also, maybe.
If the classic “Oh Sherrie” (Steve Perry, 1984) is instantly recognizable by the vast majority of humans on earth, do you name your main character Sherrie? Do you make her a small-time girl, living in a lonely world, and cast a city boy from south Detroit. (Journey, Don’t Stop Believin’, 1981)? I know I would.
If you have any interest in Livin’ On A Prayer (Bon Jovi, 1986) in Paradise City (Guns and Roses, 1987), best go to “Rock of Ages”. Worth every minute of your time.