Rock Of Ages

Performing their first full-blown musical since 2022, Whitehaven Theatre Group really let their hair down and cranked up the volume to eleven on their production of the West End and Broadway smash - Rock of Ages.   
 
With gentrification looming over The Sunset Strip, Rock and Roll in Los Angeles looks almost certain to be silenced due to a couple of pesky German property developers seeking to redevelop the entire strip into flats.  The thin plot is carried by an amazing score, jam-packed with banger after banger. It may come as a surprise to no one, that I’m not a natural born rocker. None the less, I popped the Broadway Cast Recording on in the car as I made my way to The Solway Hall, ready and raring to have my face melted by some iconic rock!

Entering the theatre, an open stage revealed the terrific set design by CrewRocks NW.   The exposed scaffold and trusses, along with a suitably brilliant lighting preset suited the production perfectly and set the tone of the evening right from the off. The incredibly versatile multi-level set was built around an LED Screen, and amongst various props and furniture also housed the productions five piece rock band.  The only slight distraction was a persistent technical problem with the LED screen whenever it wasn’t displaying content.  Personally I would have kept the brick wall effect on during the transitions to avoid this. The show moved at such a good pace, it really wouldn’t have made any difference to the audiences focus.  

I thought the show was brilliantly directed by first-time director Lizzy Reddock.  There were some really nice touches, pacing was good on the whole and I found the direction to be very focused. We always knew where we should be looking and the laughs landed in the right place.

The lighting design was a breath of fresh air - Louisa Morton did an exceptional job. The design had superb musicality which suited both the action we were watching and the music we were hearing.  There were colour builds on key changes, fun blinders on musical stabs AND my favourite of them all  - she chose to enlist a follow spot! This gave her the freedom to create some amazing aesthetics on stage that didn’t require any additional front lighting to wash out the stage, using only the follow spot to highlight the performers.  Louise was also on stage too, I just hope she got to see it from out front too during the tech!

I thought the production was a technical success from set, to lighting to costume. The only element that didn’t quite hit the mark for me was the sound.  The sound quality was muffled throughout, making the dialogue unintelligible and as a result, the plot very difficult to follow.   I didn’t feel a good balance was ever established which resulting in some of the powerhouse anthems feeling a touch stilted.  It’s such a shame because Musical Director Jennifer Daglish did a tremendous job leading the five piece rock band who quite literally ‘rocked! Having them onstage completely lifted the entire piece and as an ensemble sounded fantastic .

Todd Morgan really found his stride as the shows narrator Lonny Barnett.   Constantly breaking the fourth wall with the audience,  he was laid back, witty and got the audience on side from the off.  His confidence grew throughout the show and the banter back and forth with the audience got more and more risqué.  A really solid, enjoyable performance.   His rendition of I Can’t Fight This Feeling in Act Two with Jack Riley was hilarious, and the pair (quite literally) bounced off each other in a brilliantly choreographed routine.  Well Done to choreographer Jodie Morgan for shoehorning in all those references, I loved the nods to The Creation of Adam, Titanic, Bolero… outrageous! 

In his other scenes, Jack knew exactly how to command the stage and gave a polished performance as Dennis Dupree. He sang and looked the part, and provided quite the topic of conversation with my mother in the car afterwards as to what the slogan meant on the back of his T-Shirt. Thank you very much to the costume department for enabling that conversation.**

With soaring vocals and great light and shade, Sam Chipman was outstanding as leading man, Drew Boley who was out to catch the eye of an aspiring actress, Sherrie Christian played by Scarlett Todhunter.  Scarlett had many of the shows ‘big sings’, which I have to say, she made look very easy indeed!

I was quite taken by Kayleigh Donald’s turn as Justice Charles.  Kayleigh gave a very raw and honest performance.  Your heart ached for her as the woman that’s been through it all and for me, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, was one of the highlights of the night.

Another standout was Samantha Styles playing over the top activist, Regina.  I thought she was absolutely brilliant in her first principal role.

When a group picks a show that just ‘clicks’ with their members, it just works.  Rock Of Ages was a perfect example of this and it was abundantly clear just how much fun the cast were having staging this big, brash musical.  An undeniable crowd pleaser which certainly brought Whitehaven Theatre Group back with a bang!

As a final aside,  it was so lovely to see so many of our District 10 groups out in force to support the production – that’s what it’s all about, putting the ‘community’ into community theatre and I left The Solway Hall beaming!    

Rock On.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.