A Racy, raucous feast of Rock!
Rocking its way to the Sheffield Lyceum, Croft House Theatre Company, who never fail to impress, catapult the comedy and rouse the raucous in the aptly named Rock of Ages. Book by Chris D’Arienzo and Musical arrangements and orchestrations by Ethan Popp. Directed and choreographed with flair by Claire Harriott, this difficult script is given an energetic and racy outing, with a strong and able cast of principals and ensemble, filling the stage and creating the crazy hedonistic era. Matt Symonds does a superb job as Musical Director and Keys, he has his work cut out with the full on and complex score. Liam Stevenson on Lead Guitar plays some excellent guitar solo’s joined by Jeff Swift on Guitar two, Matt Jackson (great wig!) on Bass Guitar and the excellent timekeeper Matt Dabbs on Drums. The sound is original and their position up stage allows the audience to appreciate the skill of the musicians in a production.
This is a very inclusive musical after last year’s excellent by very small cast in Sunset Boulevard, (named in my top 5 shows of 2024). This time we are at Sunset Strip rather than the aforementioned Boulevard and although this is a story that purposely lacks any depth and pokes fun at the genre of Musical Theatre at every opportunity, the show is crammed with a banging soundtrack and a wealth of characture crazy characters from a snippet of time in Hollywood in the 1980’s. The Set is centred in and around the Bourbon Room with opening flats to create the ‘action packed’ Private room (in more ways than one!) The occasional desk, tables and chairs are added with moving scaffolding to create other areas, none of this takes the eye away from the action. Unfortunately, there were some technical issues on the opening night, missed sound cues, a problem with the sound balance and missing spotlights but that said, I know first-hand this show is notoriously complex, with such a lot happening constantly, I am sure Nick Greenhill on sound and Gary Longfield (lighting) will sort this out for the next performance. Sadly, this is one of the downsides of lack of Tech time in amateur theatre due to costs.
The story line is simply two youngsters, Sherrie Christian and Drew Boley, arriving on the Strip looking for fame and both find themselves menially employed at the Bourbon Room. Enter a German property developer, Hertz Klinemann with his hapless son Franz, who wants to bulldoze the whole Strip and regenerate it. The epicentre of Rock, The Bourbon Room, puts up a fight helped by the mayor’s ex PA Regina Koontz. Dennis Dupree, the Bourbon Room owner manages to secure a farewell gig from the Rock Legend that is Stacee Jaxx. Cue… chaos! Sherrie loses her job, thanks to Jaxx and ends up as an ‘exotic’ dancer in Justice Charlier’s ‘Venus Gentleman’s club’, Drew is poached for a boyband without a guitar solo in sight. No more needs to be said as Act one ends… except Act two brings the goods and more love stories than anyone through possible! Don’t worry if the plot loses you, because the audience are subject to a witty commentary throughout from Lonny Barnett played with great aplomb by Tom Fox-Owens. A performance with great energy and some great rock vocals, his humour is infectious, and his physical comedy is smuttily hilarious (including his dance moves!).
Adam Walker as Drew Boley gives a strong characterisation and brings some Naturalism to the musical, he also plays some rocking lead guitar with heart felt vocals. Sherrie Christian is played by Grace Hadabora and this girl has some exceptional talent, aesthetic to watch, killer dance moves, great interpretation of song and some excellent vocals, Grace is the whole package and then add Walker’s voice in the vocal duets and its bliss!
Phil Brownlow as Hertz Klineman gives a comedic performance and his accent never falters, particularly impressive in his rendition of Keep On Loving You, which he sings to his son Franz (Matt Bevan). Bevan gives a side-splitting performance which left me agog at times… all I can say is wow, it has to be seen to be believed! Stacee Jaxx is brought to life by James Smith, and he gives a professionally polished and convincing performance with strong rock vocals and the swagger to match.
‘Every Rose has Its Thorn’ was one of the highlight numbers of the show for me, and Helen Green as Justice Carlier shows her vocal class in this number, some wonderful harmonies are created by the cast, well done MD – Mr Symonds! But my favourite number had to be ‘Can’t Fight This feeling’ – very cleverly stage to grow throughout the number before the reveal of Lonny and Dennis’ story. This number had just enough of everything and not too much of any! Mark Holmes in the role of Dennis Dupree was the highlight of my night (and not because he added a mention of me to the monologue – but very funny – he had impressed already!) His performance was the perfect catalyst for Fox- Owen’s Lonny and together they made a strong tag team. Holmes’ vocals gave me the shivers (literally!) and the role was the perfect creation for his strengths. His monologue/ acceptance speech was wonderfully ‘Ham’ and he manages to create layers within his character when none are present in the writing! Bravo!
But strong Principals are not enough without the ensemble and Alice MacKenzie as Dance Captain needs a mention as she does a fabulous job keeping them and the Dancers/Strippers well-rehearsed and looking professional. The ensemble gives an engrossed performance and there isn’t a weak link amongst them, with some lovely little cameos along the way!
Rock of Ages is at the Sheffield Lyceum until Saturday 22nd March 2025. So, support our home-grown rockers, don the shoulder pads and get on down to the Lyceum for a great night of belly laughs, big hair and head banging… I promise, you will leave the theatre with a huge smile and memories of a more carefree time when all that mattered in life was the music and the company you kept. A soundtrack to a genre and an era!
Reviewer: Tracey Bell
Reviewed: 18th March 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 4 out of 5.
