Having actually being born in the 80’s I wouldn’t exactly say that the air-rocking 80’s culture was ‘exactly’ my era however I couldn’t miss out on a review of ‘Rock of Ages’ especially as it had a 3 year West end stint. So I grabbed my husband as we prepared for an evening of classic rock.
Having not seen the film starring Tom Cruise nor the West End show I had a sneaky ‘You Tube’ search to see exactly what to expect. I can’t say that my ‘You Tube’ find filled me with the utmost excitement but as I found out later in the evening this would all change…
Rock Of Ages The Musical is the ultimate rock mix-tape musical, a hilarious story of dreams, love and – of course – rock. A celebration of classic 80’s rock culture, the show tells the story of a small town girl and a big city rocker falling in love to the greatest songs of the decade.
As soon as Act One opened with the Bourbon Club as the background setting I soon enough found myself singing along to “We built This City” by Starship and my inner rock goddess moves were unleashed. Across the evening we were met with a surprisingly humorous narration and a class act performance from Stephen Rahman-Hughes who played Lonny. His audience interaction added that extra buzz of excitement which was also supported by Daniel Fletcher (Dennis Dupree).
Along with humour was a blend of sexiness from Ben Richards (Stacee Jaxx), love and all round entertainment with high energetic dance and musical performances not to mention the astounding vocal performances from Noel Sullivan (Drew) and Cordelia Farnworth (Sherrie Christian). The night was made memorable with those all familiar 80’s tunes including “Here I Go Again”, “Final Countdown” and “Wanted Dead or Alive”.
The best scenes certainly came when the cast were abstaining from laughing out loud due to the constant witty one-liners along with the highly amusing performance of “Hit me with your best shot” from Russell Smith (Franz) and Jessie May (Regina) which had the audience wolf whistling. Another favourite scene of mine had to be the end of Act 1 and the pulsing routine of “Here I Go Again” finished off with some Jazz Hands!
When it came to the end of the show the whole audience couldn’t wait to get up on their feet to “Don’t Stop Believin” and with a standing ovation for the whole cast the evening made a long lasting impression on me and totally changed my initial doubts of watching the show…It literally left me with a new found love for the 80’s.
Rock Of Ages The Musical runs at The Regent Theatre between Monday 14th July 2014 and Saturday 19th July 2014. Tickets are available in person from The Regent Theatre Box Office, by calling 0844 871 7649 or visiting www.atgtickets.com/stoke