Rock of Ages

[styxfanNH]

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/152280 ... lines=true

Deborah Gibson, C.C. DeVille Lend Authenticity To '80s 'Rock' Premiere
01.30.2006 6:44 PM EST

Tongue-in-cheek 'Rock of Ages' musical is set on the Sunset Strip in 1986.

HOLLYWOOD — It was the typical Hollywood club scene at the Vanguard on Saturday as supermodels gushed over Warrant's Jani Lane; Debbie Gibson and C.C. DeVille joked about rumors they were wed; and Don Dokken and Jack Blades posed for the paparazzi.

Typical, of course, if it were the '80s. Which was perfect, since the top shelf of "Where are they now?" talent was on hand for the premiere of "Rock of Ages," a musical set on the Sunset Strip in 1986.

"This is incredible," said guitarist Tommy Shaw of Styx, whose "Renegade" is one of several dozen hair-metal songs featured in the production. "Our music has somehow survived everything we've ever done. It's become part of the public fabric. For them to be using it in a musical, it's surreal to me. I've seen this happen over time with other music, but it's a first for me. All of our fans have grown up and they've gotten into positions where they can do something like this."

"Rock of Ages" is the brainchild of exactly that: metal fans like director Kristin Hanggi ("Pussycat Dolls: Live at the Roxy"), writer Chris D'Arienzo ("Barry Munday"), co-producer Marcos Siega (a music video director) and co-executive producer Janet Billig Rich (Nirvana's former manager).

"The appeal [in making the musical] is totally how much fun it is," said Laura Bell Bundy, the Broadway veteran ("Wicked," "Hairspray") who stars as Sherrie Christian, a Midwestern girl who comes to Hollywood to become an actress, only to get used by a metal god and end up working as a stripper. "Everything was all about looking good, being glamorous and like having long hair and rocking hard. And this show, it really stays true to the era. And in a way it kind of lets you make fun of it, but in a way of loving it and respecting it at the same time."

Like Metal Skool, the hair-metal tribute band that's been playing the Strip for the past five years, "Rock of Ages" honors the era but pokes fun just the same.

"It should [poke fun]!" DeVille said. "Listen, if you look back, I was always winkin' at the audience. In other words, I knew that to be cool, to wear makeup, you'd have to like, not shave. I mean, it was always an inside joke."

"Every generation has its goofy guys," Night Ranger singer Blades added. "So what does it matter? If you can't laugh at yourself or with yourself, then what do you care?"

Dokken, on the other hand, was a little worried as he walked into the Vanguard's doors.

"I went and checked out Metal Skool and I can understand the parody, but the movie 'Rock Star,' I thought, 'Somebody got a lot of bad information,' " the Dokken singer said. "The whole thing was so fantasmically wrong. I mean, when the wives get in the limousine and they follow the tour bus and the groupies go on the tour bus — I've been around the world a million times and that never went down."

There are no wives in limos in "Rock of Ages," but there is plenty of groupie love and, well, stripper love. Bundy's strip club scenes even extend into the audience, one of many ways the show involves the crowd (for example, lighters are handed out at the door for ballads).

"The music involved the audience when it was happening, so the whole idea is you have to involve the audience now," explained former "Singled Out" host Chris Hardwick, who plays Stacee Jaxx, the rock god who returns to club Rock of Ages for its final show before being bought out by a German conglomerate.

Along with Bundy and Hardwick, "Rock of Ages" also stars another familiar face: Kyle Gass from Tenacious D.

"I play the club owner, Dennis Dupree, a very benevolent, kind owner, so it's obviously not like real life, because most of 'em, let's face it, are a little dicier," Gass said. "[Rock] is my favorite music, and although the hair-metal music of the '80s might not be my very favorite, the way we use it in the show is pretty fun."

In one of the musical's most memorable scenes, Gass shares a heartbreaking duet of REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling" with his trusty soundman, played by Dan Finnerty of the Dan Band (famous for his rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in "Old School").

"I didn't [know him before], so I immediately didn't like him at first ... but he's really funny," Gass said. "We've become pretty good pals."

Along with a flock of '80s rockers, Saturday's premiere also brought out Perry Farrell and Tom Morello and actors like Dax Shepard, Michael Rosenbaum and Mark Ruffalo. It was the blasts from the past, however, that had the red carpet buzzing. ("Oh my God! Is that Toni Basil?")

"I think pop and theater have now almost melded in a way, because you want songs that you leave a theater humming, and I think the '80s was the decade of catchy songs, so it makes perfect sense to me," said Deborah (formerly Debbie) Gibson, '80s-pop-star-turned-Broadway-actress. "I'm only offended they didn't ask for one of my songs."

"Rock of Ages" continues at the Vanguard Theatre through February 18, with shows Thursdays at 8 p.m., Fridays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 7 p.m. Producers expect the show to move to Las Vegas in the spring.

— Corey Moss

[styxfanNH]

From Tommy on Styxworld

Hey Everybody,

Jeanne and I just got back from seeing "Rock of Ages-The Musical" tonight here in Los Angeles. They'd asked to license "Too Much Time," "Renegade" and "High Enough" some time ago and tonight the show officially opened here in Hollywood.

I had no idea what to expect, but judging from the groundswell of interest here in this little town of Hollywood and the little surrounding villages over the past few weeks, it was starting to feel like there might me something going on down there. We met Jack, Mollie and James Blades, and Gary and Valerie Bird at the Vanguard Theater after walking the red carpet and soon the show started with a bang. One 80's song after another, with narrator Dan Finnerty (the singer in the wedding band in "Old School" who did such a fine job singing "Lady") setting the tone for what was to come. Great use of the songs, and some mighty impressive singing going on there.

Laura Bell Bubdy, James Snyder, our pal Kyle Gass and over a dozen other cast mates Rocked our world, 1980's-style for ninety minutes, and by the time the final song, Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" was over, I looked around and saw big smiles all around the theater.

I hope this show gets the chance to go all the way. We were all very proud to be associated with "Rock of Ages-The Musical." Here's to it's success!

To find out more, go to:

http://www.rockofagesmusical.com/

[styxfanNH]

http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et ... l=cl-stage

THEATER REVIEW
Reviving an '80s energy without getting in too deep
The musical "Rock of Ages" re-creates an era's mindless fun but rises only so far above it.

Theater


By Charles McNulty, Times Staff Writer


Nostalgia for the '80s won't go away, even if those of us who came of age back then would like to suppress some of the memories. Musically, it was the era of schmaltzy rock anthems (remember Styx?) and guitar tantrums by rowdy suburban white boys. Fashion-wise, it was borderline traumatic. (Don't make us pull out our yearbooks.) Still, you've got to hand it to a decade that considered guys with painted-on jeans, heavily appliquéd belts and fried Farrah Fawcett hair butch. Well, at least if they were twirling a guitar or swallowing a microphone.

That crazy, colorful female-mimicking (and exploiting) energy is on unabashed display in "Rock of Ages," the burst of retro adrenaline that had its world premiere Saturday at the Vanguard. If there's anything to the party tip that suggests playing music from the period when most of the guests were agonizing about prom, I suggest the producers contemplate flying in the 1,100 seniors who graduated with me from my public high school in the '80s (no need to pin down a date, thank you very much). This show is for all of us who still find ourselves lip-syncing down the supermarket aisles to Pat Benatar or sneaking Foreigner onto our iPods.


Everyone else will have to ask how much music video cheese they can stand to see theatricalized onstage. Note I didn't say dramatized, even though the book by Chris D'Arienzo tries to set up a "Rent"-like plot about a Sunset Strip music club threatened by a gentrifying German entrepreneur with little appreciation for the fact that, as the singers earsplittingly tell us, they "built this city on rock 'n' roll."

Sorry to say, but "Rock of Ages" lowers the bar, story-wise, for the jukebox musical, which is really saying something given the Broadway car wrecks of the past few seasons. As with "Mamma Mia!," the ABBA extravaganza that boosted the genre with its billion-dollar-and-climbing worldwide box office, the action is merely a pretext for another karaoke-inducing hit.

So when the conveniently named Sherrie Christian (Laura Bell Bundy) leaves Kansas to make it big as an actress in Hollywood, her parents belt out Night Ranger's "Sister Christian." And after she encourages her cute co-worker, Drew (James Snyder), at the Rock of Ages club on Sunset to go for his dream, he hammers out Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock." Needless to say, when life reaches a crisis point for our heroine, she'll be serenaded with a rendition of Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie."

An amusingly sleazy Dan Finnerty plays Lonny, the slovenly soundman and evening's MC who can't resist baiting the audience with his gyrating body. When Lonny falls in love with the last person you'd expect, the two break out into REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling," played (like the rest of the show) on a knife's edge between over-the-top parody and bird-brained sincerity.

Other characters include Stacee Jaxx (Chris Hardwick), the rhinestone-clad rock star who toys with Sherrie for a regretful night; Justice Charlier (a luscious voiced Michele Mais), the strip-club madam who finds work for down-and-out girls; and Regina McKaig (Patty Wortham), the ex-groupie who leads the fight against the German developer by enlisting his browbeaten son in a duet of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."

For those whose skin is starting to crawl right now, be warned that you might find it hard to resist the infectious head bobbing, which reached epidemic proportions in the audience during Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" and Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart." Kinetically directed by Kristin Hanggi and choreographed with acrobatic eroticism by RJ Durell, the production may not improve the malingering state of the American musical, but it certainly creates a spectacle that shamelessly conveys the essence of what made the '80s, for better or worse, unforgettable.

The huge cast is a mixed bag in talent, though not energy. The chorus sings and dances with "Star Search" determination (that's the previous generation's "American Idol," for you young ones). And the principals are mostly terrific, especially Bundy (whose Broadway credits include originating the role of Amber Von Tussle in "Hairspray") and Snyder, who both have that '80s sex appeal down. They're eye candy with pipes.

"Rock of Ages," which has Vegas dreams and Creative Artists Agency support, succeeds in doing exactly what it sets out to do — re-creating the mindless fun of an era that really doesn't deserve anything artistically better. Sure, be a snob about a show that has a place of honor for Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," but you might find yourself picking up one of the cigarette lighters on hand after the song's done and requesting an encore.

*

'Rock of Ages'

Where: The Vanguard, 6021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: 8 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday

Ends: Feb. 18

Price: $34.50 to $45

Contact: (800) 595-4849

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes