(PHOTOS BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Tim Kays
There are those of us who remember the 1980s and 90s. We remember the outlandish hair and clothes, and we remember the music. Ahh…the music. So full of energy, heart, hope, and by today’s standards…innocence.
On March 5 and 6, those who weren’t even a glimmer in their parents’ eyes brought the 80s and 90s back to life in the Edon Auditeria with their performance of the musical, ‘Rock of Ages’.
This musical is set in the musical hotbed of the 80s, Los Angeles, with a focus on two clubs…the Bourbon Room and the Venus a Go-Go.
With a soundtrack and script heavily vested in the music and lyrics of the era, Dennis (Gage Eicher) is trying valiantly to save his beloved Bourbon Room, while his girlfriend Lonny (Nevaya Deck) narrates and guides the audience through their travel through time.
The time travel includes the teenage frustrations of complicated relationships, including those of Midwest transplants Drew (Trey Whitney) and Sherrie (Sam Ridgeway).
Drew and Sherrie are the proverbial ‘so close yet so far’ couple, as they are steered apart by misunderstandings and hair band rock star Stacee Jaxx (Zander Kurtz).
It takes a lot of musical mashups to make their courses correct to bring them together, and those mashups make for a memorable script of music.
It’s hard to imagine the Joan Jett line of ‘I hate myself for loving you,’ being answered by Asia’s, ‘I never meant to be so bad to you,’ from their 1982 single, ‘Heat of the Moment,’ but the cast made it work, and work well.
With lyrical scripted lines that included Twisted Sister being answered by Warrant, and Pat Benetar answering Quarterflash, anybody and everybody with roots in the Reagan administration came away with a smile of familiarity.
Individual songs from the likes of Bon Jovi, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon and Poison knitted the scenes seamlessly, and the performance was capped off with the full cast turning in a well choreographed version of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ at the animated finale.
Tim can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com
