Columbus audiences rock out at ‘Rock of Ages’

Tons of spotlights.  Fog machines.  A giant video screen.  A live band.  Screaming into microphones and screaming in the audience.  No, it’s not a rock concert, but you’re close.  It’s Rock of Ages, the musical national tour which will be playing the Palace Theatre through December 12.

The production works hard to give the audience a concert-like experience, starting from the very moment people enter the auditorium.  Eighties rock music plays over the speakers before the show even starts, as well as during the intermission.  The set gives the stage a very rock concert feel, with bright lights, huge posters, and a giant video screen used to add multimedia to the show.  The actors spend the show interacting with the audience—addressing them, running up and down the aisles, getting people to play along with the concert atmosphere.

The energy displayed by the cast is overwhelming.  It is truly hard to believe that so much energy could be contained in one show.  The dancing is energetic, the humor never stops, and the cast sings their lungs out.  As a jukebox musical, all of the songs are 80s covers integrated into the story, sometimes to the point that making the lyric fit into the story feels forced.  Coming into the show with limited prior knowledge, I was nevertheless impressed that there was a rather engaging story contained within the rock—I had found this difficult to believe before, but I was proven wrong.

As a whole, the cast is wonderful.  As always, there were those stars who stood out.  American Idol alum and Rock of Ages original cast star Constantine Maroulis plays the slightly awkward character of Drew with heartwarming charm and his talent at singing comes through at every possible opportunity.  As Sherrie, Rebecca Faulkenberry is perfect, showing her large character arch wonderfully—all who have experienced being a young adult chasing a dream will be able to relate to her story.  Lonny, who acts as the narrator, is brought to hilarious life by Patrick Lewallen.  He steals the show at every turn and is the source of a good portion of the adult humor throughout the musical.

While the show was certainly enjoyable, there were a few minor pitfalls.  As already mentioned, some of the songs felt forced into the show just to have that particular hit represented.  The humor is certainly of the adult variety, so be warned that this show is not for children.  The largest downside, however, was the volume—the sound was set so loud that I had difficulty understanding some of the song lyrics and parts of dialogue.  However, don’t let this deter you if you’re looking to have fun at the theatre, because that you most certainly will have at Rock of Ages.