Theatre Review: ‘Rock Of Ages’ (2022 Tour)

Rock of Ages has been a Broadway and West End hit and in 2022, is now back on tour. This is a brilliant musical comedy containing many well-known ’80s rock anthems such as Starship’s ‘We Built This City’, and Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’; Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again’ and even REO Speedwagon’s ‘I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore’. 

Kevin Kennedy as Dennis Dupree is fantastic, pulling the musical together, working the audience and had everyone up and dancing as they joined in with the music that was on stage. At times the humour ran away with him as he struggled to overcome his own laughter, but he maintained a professional demeanour throughout and was thoroughly entertaining as he carried the show through the peaks and troughs of the drama that unfolded.

The story of is about a couple, a young girl from Kansas who wishes to become an actress and a guy from Detroit who desires to be a rock star, theirs is a love story around which the musical unfolds.  Dealing with the highs and lows of their story, they have both arrived in LA with dreams aplenty and the desire to succeed but do they have enough talent to make it, or will everyday life grind them down before they get a chance?   Whilst this story unfolds, the famous Bourbon Room where they work is also under threat from developers to become a Footlocker athletics store. There are many protests, especially the lady from the mayor’s office who is incredibly passionate about her crusade as she deals with the developer and his son.

The comedy timing or mistiming during this outstanding performance was hilarious as the actors shuffled across the Lighthoiuse stage to get their moment in the limelight, the comedy very quick witted and funny, and often full of of innuendo .

Occasionally some of the singers’ microphones were not balanced to cope with the excellent live band that accompanied the singers throughout, so briefly some of the lyrics were lost.  Some of the actors were also hidden behind speakers when they were on the edge of the set, which did not impact hugely to the overall enjoyment, but did occasionally mean that we were not aware of which character was singing or the story line that was evolving – but, of course, these are minor negative talking points. 

Rock Of Ages continues to be recommended – during our performance, the entire audience were up and singing along with the cast. A brilliant evening of live entertainment that gets your foot tapping and hands clapping as you join in the well-known songs. Not to be missed.