Play Review: The Gateway Kicks Off 75th Season with 'Rock of Ages'

The Gateway’s 75th season kicked off this month with a certified head-banger: Rock of Ages by Chris Darienzo and Ethan Popp.

This jukebox musical is a love letter to ’80s kids and fans of the generation’s high-energy rock music, glam rock, arena rock and heavy metal, featuring mashups and full renditions of classics like “We Built This City,” “The Final Countdown,” “Dead or Alive,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “Renegade” and “Pour Some Sugar.” Careful listeners may also catch a snippet of the show’s namesake song, “Rock of Ages” by Def Leppard, which is infamously omitted from the musical’s soundtrack.

The setting and narrative of Rock of Ages are carefully built upon the show’s track list, with characters’ names, goals and story beats closely mirroring the featured songs. Many of these connections are either obvious or stated with a wink to the audience, such as Sherrie Christian being named after both Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” and Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian.” The main couple, too, is a direct callout to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” — Sherrie is a small-town girl, Drew is a boy from Detroit, and, yes, a midnight train is involved.

As with many jukebox musicals, Rock of Ages’ plot is not the main draw. In a sense, the story is the hamburger bun keeping the ingredients together, but the music is the meat that people come to enjoy. While the production relishes in its surface-level triviality via Lonny, the self-aware narrator who breaks the fourth wall and makes fun of the show’s cliché elements, the story it’s telling is shockingly sincere in portraying the dark reality of seeking Hollywood fame in the 1980s.

Sherrie Christian, portrayed by Malia Monk, is the young, naive runaway who flees her Kansas home to chase her dream of becoming a famous actress. Instead, she discovers that life is full of rejection, betrayal and exploitation. Monk captures Sherrie’s transition from a bright-eyed dreamer to an embittered realist exceptionally well in her acting and singing. Her haunting delivery of Quarterflash’s “Harden My Heart” gives chills that are amplified by the number’s poignant infusion of Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night” sung by Asia Kaleem, as a reluctant Sherrie is lured into a life of exotic dancing by strip club owner Justice (Kaleem).

The script may treat Sherrie and her romantic counterpart, rockstar wannabe Drew Boley, as tragic parallels faced with the true cost of fame and forced to compromise their values to achieve it, but it’s a tough sell equating Sherri’s horrific situation to Drew’s low point, at which his manager forces him to wear trendier clothes and sing pop songs. And that’s probably for the best. Among the main cast, Sherrie is the only deep, nuanced character in this otherwise hilarious, campy romp through ’80s music and nostalgia, and that seems to strike a comfortable balance for the audience.

Drew’s struggle may pale when compared to Sherrie’s, but his portrayal by Woody Scott White is bursting with humor and heart. His performance of “I Wanna Rock” channels the rock gods that this musical celebrates, and his sweeter numbers like “Waiting for a Girl Like You” prove the impeccable range and tone of his voice.

Rock of Ages is chock full of scene-stealing dynamic pairings beyond the romantic leads. Throughout the first act, Ethan Carlson as the flamboyantly German Franz is an absolute delight, and Sarah Michele Lindsey as the riotous Regina is a force that leaves the audience in stitches. Put them together in act two, and the result is a wonderfully ridiculous, off-the-walls rendition of Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” replete with neon unitards and legwarmers.

Raunchy narrator Lonny, played by Christopher Persichetti, and headstrong hippie Dennis, Aaron Fried, are a source of endless laughs throughout the show and share a chemistry as undeniable as it is cheeky, though their romantic rendition of REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling” still manages to come out of left field in the silliest way.

Stacee Jaxx, the personification of the MTV rockstar lifestyle, is a caricature and a half with his lion-mane hair, in-your-face debauchery and harem of groupies, and actor Mark Ryan Anderson plays the part with conviction. Though his character’s role in the story diminishes as it progresses, Anderson steals the full company’s finale number with his part in “Don’t Stop Believin’” sung of entirely in Spanish.

The sex, drugs, rock and roll don’t end with Stacee Jaxx. The choreography is suggestive, the costumes are scandalous, the innuendos aren’t subtle, and the crude humor is rampant — in other words, Rock of Ages is a time capsule containing everything that rockers from the generation of excess would hope to see in a production like this.

The production runs through June 2 at The Gateway Playhouse in Bellport. For tickets and more information, visit thegateway.org.