Rock of Ages

It takes enthusiasm, high energy and great talent to pull off a show like Brentwood Musical Theatre Group’s production of Rock of Ages. I got the impression from the whole show that the cast were living their best life as they sung through fantastic 80’s tracks by Slade, Europe and Quarterflash.

We were greeted with an overdose of haze from the Fog Master 5000 into the Bourbon Room, the Sunset Strip’s last remaining rock and roll venue. Lonny, played superbly by David Everest-Ring, managed to smash that 4th wall by interacting fabulously with a member of the audience throughout, especially with the polaroid photo, and referring back to her all through the show. David has a powerful rock voice which ties the whole narrative together seamlessly accompanied by great stage presence.

Drew, Aiden Adams, was pitched exactly right with a bouncy gait and charming naivety. We all warmed to him and, once again, he possessed a great voice and an easy stage presence.  He had great on-stage chemistry with Bethan Freeman-Oram, who played Sherrie. She was the sweet young novice to this whole seedy world of fame and fortune. The song, More than Words, was beautifully sung and varied the dynamics to allow the sentiment to show through. She juggled the demands of the role expertly and was great to watch as she navigated through her problems. The on-stage band, led by Jamie Bell, consisted of only 5 musicians, but what power they delivered! They blended beautifully and tempered the volume to accommodate the dialogue and even delivered a couple of great centre stage solos from the lead guitarist. Jamie extracted some great harmonies from the whole cast as well as some beautifully balanced duets. In fact, there was a great enthusiastic sound from everyone with choreography to match designed by the wonderfully talented Ian Gilbert. Ian both directed and choreographed this production which was reflected the cohesive atmosphere from all members of the cast. The dance moves were modern, energetic and fun, and the signed section of Heaven was a lovely touch. The action flowed with no ‘official’ entrances and exits but rather the cast were entering from doorways, raised platforms and wings throughout the show so that they were just ‘there’ when needed. This was such a lovely low-key direction style that you don’t realise it’s happening until you are at the end of the show and you’ve been on the whirlwind contained within the storyline. Many congratulations, Ian, this was a really fast paced enjoyable show that kept me gripped from start to finish.

I must single out a few of the outstanding performances although everyone, even those with cameo roles, made the most of them. Martin Harris, as Dennis Dupree, made a lovely owner of the bar and Ben Martins as Staycee Jaxx was deliciously seedy and certainly brought the house down when the boots appeared at the top of the toilet door! Emily Walker as the ‘madam’ combined the practical with the sympathetic when dealing with Sherrie and Lucy Avery was fabulous as the leader of the rebels. The comedy roles of the developers, played by Matthew Ibbotson and Theo Harris as Hertz and Franz Klineman, were great. Matthew’s beautiful singing voice took me by surprise but worked spectacularly well in this role and Theo had a lot of fun with Franz. I must mention Ayesha Shergill as Waitress 1. She had a great singing voice and strutted her stuff beautifully in this role. It’s obvious that there is a great amount of talent within this group.

The set was practical and used well with different levels constantly in use and set changes were carried out discreetly and effectively by the stage team. Props and costumes were exactly right and all contributed to the overall fun of the show. `

The secret to this show's success is about full-throttle commitment from every person on stage, and this cast gave it their all. The infectious energy completely uplifted the audience from the first power ballad to the finale of ‘Don’t stop Believing’

Thank you so much for inviting me and looking after me so well, as well as treating me to a really great evening of entertainment.

 

 

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