Rock of Ages

After more than 120 years Croft House Theatre Co continue to perform musicals of the highest order to their loyal Sheffield audiences. Going back to 1902 with The Prince and the Pedlar  and only missing a few ,through the war years and covid, the list of productions  continues to grow, never frightened to take on the old established and new musical releases alike .2025, following Sunset Boulevard last year, Croft now go rock and roll with Rock of Ages, a jukebox musical comedy bringing alive music from groups such as Styx, Poison, Slade, Foreigner and many more. Written 20 years ago  has continued to  be enjoyed by audiences  far and wide . The set was cleverly thought out, with stairs and a landing stage left, an off centre bar area, stools and tables, and a series of doors stage right, one allowing the movement of a revolve up stage right.

The direction and choreography by Claire Harriott was excellent, with such a large cast spacing and shaping was essential and this was carried out to a very high standard. The actors certainly took on the guidance whilst delivering excellent cameo scenes, great comedic timing and staging. The dancing and dance moves were well delivered and performed to a high standard under the guidance of your Dance Captain , Alice MacKenzie . Matt Symonds as Musical Director should be thrilled by the quality of singing throughout, and along with his small but powerful rock band fitted in perfectly with the production. The lead role is required to sing and also play a guitar as the aspiring rock star and in Adam Walker as Drew Boley you had just that. The way he dealt with striving for success in music whilst underestimating the desires of Sherrie Christian performed by Grace Hadabora was tastefully played with moving scenes and quality singing . Your duet of ‘ The Search is Over ‘ was well performed along with your combined singing in many other nostalgic songs, Waiting for a Girl Like You,’ ‘ More Than Words To Be With You’ to name but two. Grace showed excellent drama and singing throughout. Lonny Barnett by Tom Fox-Owens , almost as the over the top narrator gave a powerful performance mixing brilliant timing, interactions with the audience and moving the production along at pace. So many comedic moments mixed with some excellent scenes with Dennis Dupree by Mark Holmes , the owner of the famous Bourbon Room on Sunset Strip . The duet between Dennis and Lonny ,later with the ensemble of ‘Cant Find This Feeling ‘ was excellent. Helen Green as Justice Charlier organized your group of supporters striving to save the strip, good strong character part played well, lovely singing and acting. I guess in every production there has to be a lethario and in the white haired role of Stacee Jaxx by James Smith you had just that. A great singing voice and over the top acting perfect for the character. Nothing in a musical  is plain sailing , there always has to be the baddies and in Hertz Klinemann by Phil Brownhill and his crazy son Franz Klinemann by Matt Bevan they were it. Hertz determined to re develop the strip and his dippy son Franz not really wanting anything to do with his father’s ambitions, whilst striving for a chocolate business back home. Two totally convincing character parts played well. Regina Koontz by Tara Kulbatski gave a powerful performance striving to offer sense to situations, excellent diction and a strong singing voice. Waitresses, Dancers and Strippers performed by Grace, Faye, Isabel, Alice and Amy well done to you all, not easy roles to play but performed really well. The strong ensemble performed, danced, and acted out the production to an excellent level. This production is full of iconic songs , ‘I Wanna Rock’, ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ ‘Here I Go Again’  ‘High Enough’ ‘Oh Sherrie’ and culminating in the final crowd raising ‘ Don’t Stop Believin’

The lighting gave atmosphere throughout and whilst I struggled with sound at times overall the balances were good. The costumes and props perfect for the period. Overall, a great evening of musical theatre performed extremely well by the talented team of actors.

Not forgetting all the unseen teams back stage and FOH.

I trust you will have a successful run and if you haven’t already brought your tickets, then don’t miss this trip back in time. It will certainly remind you of those memorable Rock and Roll Years.

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