Warning: campy '80s romp could induce headbanging

Winnipeg Free Press

28-06-2025

Rock on! Rainbow Stage took Thursday's opening night audience on a blast to the past as it launched its 71st season with the mullet-curling professional Manitoba première of Broadway hit Rock of Ages.
The Tony Award-nominated jukebox musical offers a string of 1980s rock anthems immortalized by bands such as Foreigner, Whitesnake, Poison, Twisted Sister and Styx, while its broad-strokes narrative tells the tale of lead characters Drew and Sherrie, who fall in love while chasing their dreams on Hollywood's legendary Sunset Strip.
It became the basis for the 2012 film starring Tom Cruise and Mary J. Blige, which took creative licence in adapting the show's original book, penned by Chris D'Arienzoi.
Nathaniel Muir (centre left) and Jeff Rivet (centre right) rock out with members of the energetic ensemble.
In many ways, the stage version is much funnier and often downright campy, boasting several meta-layers in which narrator Lonny breaks the fourth wall to take jabs at the fantastical nature of Broadway musicals.
Director Alexandra Herzog, who also helmed last year's Mary Poppins, wisely plays up these moments with her gung-ho cast. Their iron-clad conviction includes wearing costume designer Daina Leitold's eye-popping period spandex and Laura Warren's shoulder-grazing wigs while punching out choreographer Josh Assor's angular movement vocabulary peppered with more fluid body isolations.
Tiered sets by Ksenia Broad-Milian evoke the gritty Bourbon Room bar and Act II's palm tree-flanked Venus strip club. Scott Henderson's effective lighting adds further colour, highlighting key moments throughout the nearly three-hour (including intermission) production.
Every theatre impresario dreams of mounting a showstopper, and in this case, the performance actually did halt for a nerve-racking six minutes during the opening medley of Cum on Feel the Noize/Just Like Paradise/Nothin' But a Good Time, owing to technical issues.
A tight onstage rock band led by music director/conductor/keyboardist Paul Rodermond features bewigged players appearing as Arsenal, whose members freely flip the bird to their lead singer Stacee Jaxx (Reid McTavish) in the outro of his career.
The actor's portrayal of this juicy role might have been more satisfying if any backstory were provided (one of the skeletal script's many gaping holes), but he nonetheless slithers around the stage like a panther in skin-tight leggings and wails during We Built this City/Too Much Time, after first bursting into the action from the house, mobbed by groupies.
Rainbow's latest offering admittedly won't be everyone's cup of tea. There's some profanity, a lot of bump 'n' grind, and the copious pelvic thrusts risk becoming gratuitous.
The show certainly warrants a 'mature content' warning for the younger audience members who eagerly lapped up Mary Poppins last year and will surely throng to Disney's Frozen next month.
Having said this, kudos to a trio of ensemble members, who morph into waitresses/strippers at the Venus club, for their fearlessly athletic pole dance at the top of Act II, hanging upside down like bats out of hell and enthralling the mixed-age crowd.
Tiera Lee Watts marks a terrific Rainbow debut as fresh-faced Sherrie from Oklahoma, effectively navigating her emotional trajectory from Midwest innocent dead-set on breaking into showbiz with her own acting career to disillusioned dreamer headed back home.
She also boasts powerhouse vocals, first heard in Sister Christian, and weaves her compelling voice into many of the show's medleys and duets, including More than Words, High Enough, and Harden My Heart/Shadows of the Night.
Jeff Rivet is a standout as Lonny.
Nathaniel Muir is rock-solid as Drew, proving he has a balladeer's heart with his more soulful hits such as Heaven, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, and belting out others for all he's worth, including the rafter-raising I Want to Rock and Waiting for a Girl like You.
In fact, more of these ballads, such as Act II's gorgeous rendition of Every Rose Has its Thorn performed by the entire company, would provide welcome contrast in the playlist; one rock tune zipping to the next often feels exhausting.
Two of the night's strongest performances belong to Daniel Bogart as Dennis Dupree and his loose cannon 'soundman' sidekick Lonny, a charismatic Jeff Rivet; their spot-on portrayals hew uncomfortably close to the gold-chained rockers still lurking among us.
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Another shout-out goes to Rochelle Kives as 'Mother' (doubling as Justice), a.k.a. Mama, who offers life advice to Sherrie while egging her on to lap dance for Stacee in the Venus's Champagne Room.
A Rainbow Stage fan favourite, Kevin Klassen returns as menacing building developer, Hertz Klinemann, with his son, Jean van der Merwe's Franz, spitting out their plans to demolish the Bourbon in German accents. This sets up Act II's showdown with Victoria Exconde's feisty city planner Regina, who leads the charge — with the audience warbling along — during We're Not Gonna Take It.
Rock of Ages is not exactly a heavy dramatic slog, promising Nothin' But a Good Time as it appeals to those still pining for the glory days of yesteryear.
However, buried — deeply — in the cracks is the timeless message that, whether Dead or Alive, it's never too late to rock out and believe in dreams that can morph like a lava lamp into new, often jolting visions for the future.
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