Last night, Jan. 22, the Broadway musical "Rock of Ages" opened at the Sacramento Community Center Theater for a 6 night run with 9 shows (3 matinees).
Anyone who has ever experienced the nightlife on the Sunset Strip would recognize the iconic imagery present on the stage.
The costumes were very apropo - colorful and well designed; after all anything goes on the "Strip" especially girls in garter belts and stockings - and not just in the strip clubs.
As the show opened, the crowd was a bit taken aback with some raw rudeness and not-so-funny jokes by Lonny (played by Justin Colombo).
The story takes place in 1987 on the Sunset Strip where Sherrie (played by Shannon Mullen) and Drew (played by Danny McHugh), a small-town girl and a big-city but small-time rocker meet. Both have similar but different dreams of making it big in the "City of Angels," Los Angeles.
Billed as a "good love story told through the hit songs of iconic rockers Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, and others," it fell short of the crowd's expectations. During intermission one show-goer said, "It's okay, but not good." Another said, "I've seen much better."
The song selections were great hits of the 80's, and they were used well in telling the story which was less like a "love story" and more like everyday (or every-night) life on the "Strip."
While the choreography was refined (hats off to choreographer Kelly Devine) and well rehearsed, the singing was not quite par.
The first act was tiring, but the second act brought some life to the story opening with a protest over developers coming in to tear down the clubs along the "Strip" and put in strip malls. Franz (played by Stephen Michael Kane) got a huge laugh as he belted his line with a lisp, "I'm not Gay - I'm German."
As the stories of the players came together so did their voices, and almost half the audience rose to its feet as the story came to a close with the full cast singing and dancing to "Don't Stop Believin'."
At the end as the light's went down, "Lonnie" offered these words, "On the 'Strip,' sometimes the dreams with which you enter are not always the dreams with which you leave, but they still rock."
And those same words ring true today as in 1987.
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