Rock of Ages
first premiered in Los Angeles in 2006 with later productions taking place in
Melbourne, Broadway, Off-Broadway and a film coming out in 2012. Rock of Ages
started previews in London on 31stAugust with an
opening night on 27thSeptember.The story is exactly
what you would expect from an 80's musical, Boy with big dreams meets girl with
big dreams, they fall in love, boy ruins the relationship, girl turns to
stripping, boy regrets this, boy meets girl again, boy and girl get together and
everyone lives happily ever after.
Ok, so the show is a lot better than I'm
making it sound! The thing i really liked about this show is that it makes fun
of itself; they pull out a programme for the show in the second act and
occasionally break the fourth wall. From the audiences point of view it was
fantastic, it's such a refreshing break from conventional musical theatre.
The
score is made up of 80s classics including We Built This City, Here I Go Again,
Final Countdown, I Can't Fight This Feeling and Don't Stop Believing.
Obviously they did their best with the songs that they could use and it
worked to a certain extent, if you are expecting every song to make perfect
sense then don't bother seeing this show! They also used projections in
the show, usually it makes me cringe when productions use projections because
most of the time it's just an easy answer to a difficult situation but they used
them well in this show, not taking them too seriously and using it in a comedic
way.
I was a bit put off by the casting of Shane Ward and Justin Lee
Collins, as were most people, but I have to say they were fantastic! Shane Ward
had a great musical theatre voice and Justin Lee Collins acting was brilliant,
both also had great charisma and good characterisation. Oliver Tompsett and Amy
Pemberton were perfect, both having a good level of innocence but still with a
great rocker voices and had immense stage presence. Simon Lipkin performed
brilliantly as Lonny, his narration all throughout the show was delivered
flawlessly. All these performers were supported wonderfully by Jodie Jacobs,
Rachel McFarlane, Rohan Tickell and Sandy Moffat, All were brilliant and had
vocals to die for. The ensembles were also very strong, with a special mention for
Twinnie Lee Moore whose performance stood out.
The show was directed
brilliantly by Kristin Hanggi who worked with Beowulf Boritt's set
fantastically, using the unique way he designed it by having the band at the
back and doors used as the entrances and exits. Kelly Devine's choreography also
worked well with both the direction and set with the whole 80s feel to the show
complemented perfectly by Gregory Gale's costume designs and Tom Watson's wig
and hair designs.
The show was a fun show, not for people who want to see a
classic piece of musical theatre but for people who want to be entertained and
have a good night at the theatre! I would defiantly recommend this show to
everyone.
Rating:
****
Rock of Ages is
currently playing at the Shaftesbury Theatre
