Rock Of Ages

It may not come as a surprise to many but should one scroll through the tracks on my 80’s playlist they’re likely to stumble across ‘Erasure’, ‘Jacko’, ‘Kylie’, ‘Eurythmics’, ‘Cindi Lauper’ and ‘Whitney’ …to name just a few. As the title of this show suggests, they’re really not the genre of 80’s music which this show honours. It’s not uncommon for me to turn my nose up at the vulgarity of straight-up guitar-driven rock, however, I can’t deny that I was swept up in this performance and found myself to be wholly immersed with the entire production.  

Dressing up the story line are more than two dozen radio-rock hits from the era. Audiences to whom this music is utterly foreign will no doubt view this show as they might an unusually raucous couple of hours in the monkey cage at the zoo. You don’t have to truly like the music to succumb to the tug of remembrance it inspires, but you have to at least recognise it.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this musical but is certainly the most I’ve enjoyed it! The characters were appropriately animated, the plot was not treated as second rate and for the most part seemed to have been given equal status to the other factors of the production (a common failing with many jukebox musicals). The vocals from many of the leading principals were mighty with execution of notable calibre.  

‘Rock of Ages’ made me realise with humility how time can play tricks on taste; songs that used to make my skin crawl now bring a stream of warm recollection. “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “We Built This City” feeling more nostalgic than tedious.  

The performances blend sincere conviction and knowing parody. Kemmie Clark’s Lonny holds the narrative together and had us on his side from the off, a charming host with an ease at delivering his affable witty banter, treating us to his musical skill later on with a saxophone solo. It’s all the craze at the moment for Actor/Muso shows to be spat out for the sake of it (it seems to be a dying fad now, thankfully) but for a show like this it’s absolutely apparent for members of the cast to play instruments given that music is so prominent in the plot it doesn’t seem out of place in the slightest and, of course, it also gives the opportunity to showcase the versatility of this talented company! …so why not!?

Sam Bate took the hopeful romantic role of Drew alongside Jess Porter’s Sherrie who steals his heart. These two shone with their “Oh Sherrie” duet in act II. These were two excellent vocal performances throughout which entirely forgave any fine-tuning opinions I had on their character delivery. Ellen Bate gave us a feisty Anita alongside a hilarious Franz played by George Platt.

Technically, the presentation was as impressive as this venue would allow it to be. It would’ve been an advantage to have some more room for the cast to perform but despite the occasional awkward moment they coped well with restricted space. Typical opening night glitches caused a few problematic incidents but nothing that the cast and crew couldn’t quickly overcome. Having the band in view is a virtue for a show of this nature and the exposed steal decking gave us the vibe of being at a music gig which aided the intended ambiance. Lighting and sound was respectable of the era, however, I know how tempting it is to shine those movers into the audience but when you’re as close as we are in this venue they really do blaze our eyes which not only irritates, it hurts!

Stacee Jaxx was the king of cool thanks to Rory Branagan’s laid back, appropriately arrogant portrayal, efficiently responding to the unfortunate wig hiccup. The choreography was, as everything else, entirely reminiscent of the genre and conveyed the accurate style though the ensemble could have afforded another drilling session for some of the full cast numbers as they were evidently unsure of what move was next and needed to check with the next person in line for conformation they were doing the right bit!      

PADOS know how to rise to a challenge and are not fazed when it comes to facing one with their ‘can do’ approach which is to be commended. This was a very enjoyable production with some stand out attributes indeed. Congratulations PADOS.

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