It’s back to the 80’s in NSMT’s lively ‘Rock of Ages’

By Rich Fahey

BEVERLY – You have to like a musical that’s not afraid to poke fun at itself, and never – I mean never – takes itself too seriously.

“Rock of Ages,” the 1980s hair-metal jukebox musical that ran for six years on Broadway and earned five Tony nominations, is now at the North Shore Music Theatre. The show and the cast are in on the joke from the beginning, thanks to the lively book by Chris D’Arienzo.

They say nothing succeeds like excess, and there’s plenty of that when it comes to big hair, scanty costumes, and outlandish characters who combine to take your eye off the lighter-than-air story.

The term “jukebox musical” has always had some critics looking down on a show before they even see it, but a show that comes in with a score that is already a proven platinum success — such as “Jersey Boys” — is already halfway home.

And “Rock of Ages’ has more than enough familiar musical anthems from the 1980s hair-metal scene to keep everyone rocking. If 1980s mega-hits such as “We Built This City” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” sound very familiar, that’s because they’ve never really left the stage since their debuts, and are almost inescapable, even now.

With no heavy emoting or delicious plot twists to worry about, “Rock of Ages” gives the customer plenty to look at and listen to, and NSMT pulls out all the stops in making sure of that. The production team for “Rock of Ages” is in full rock-concert mode, and hats off across the board to, first, Jeffrey D. Kmiec for creating the Sunset Strip vibe, from iconic street signs and landmarks to a grimy dive bar bathroom. Rebecca Glick’s costumes are period-perfect, and scanty, sleek and sexy when they have to be. Jose Santiago’s lighting design captures an ever-changing palette of colors for the rock sequences, and Ryan Marsh’s sound perfectly balances dialogue and music so nothing is lost. Given the time and place, Rachel Padula-Shufelt’s wigs and hair designs are vital to the piece.

NSMT’s Kevin P. Hill, the theater’s producing artistic director, directs with just the lightest of touch, allowing his eclectic characters to go over the top without ever quite leaving firm ground. Choreographer Sara Andreas scored recently in NSMT’s “The Cher Show” and her work is again sublime, and her gifted ensemble never lets the energy lag, right up to the encore of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’” that ends the show.

Keyboardist/Conductor Peter Leigh-Nilsen leads a tight five-piece rock band that skillfully belts out the best of the 80’s hits ripe for singing along as well as dancing along when the mood strikes. Starship, Twisted Sister, Foreigner, and Pat Benatar are among the artists represented. Ethan Popp arranged and orchestrated the songs for the stage.

The musical takes place on the Sunset Strip in 1987, in a bar called Dupree’s Bourbon Room, the headquarters of LA’s hair-metal scene.

Our narrator is Lonny (Matt DaSilva), a funny, charming, happy-go-lucky loser who “works” at the Bourbon Room for his BFF.   He pops up all the time, usually in the wrong place at the wrong time, but his best moment comes when he tells another character that if the writer hasn’t gotten it right, he should write his own ending to the show.

Dennis Dupree (Evan Harrington) is the tough but tender owner of the bar, a local institution threatened with extinction when the corrupt mayor of LA is snowed under by cash from an equally corrupt German developer named Hertz (Tom Galantich), who plans to clean up the strip with son Franz (Michael Schimmele) while buying out the cash-strapped Dupree.

That complicates the plans of his bar back, Drew (EJ Dohring), a city guy who becomes involved with a small-town girl named Sherrie (Chelsea Williams), a waitress and aspiring actress. who encourages Drew to pursue his own rock-star dreams.

He gets his chance when Dupree, in a last-ditch effort to save the bar, hires the local reigning rock star, the flamboyant Stacee Jaxx (Nathaniel Hackman), complete with blond hair that goes on forever. He sweeps the naïve and innocent Sherrie off her feet, angering Drew, and ending their relationship. In despair, she becomes a stripper at the Venus Club.

Book writer D’Arienzo sprinkles humor throughout but falls short in the scenes with Franz and Hertz, who do their best with what they have to work with, deliberately murdering their German accents. Schimmele as Franz emerges with at least a few laughs, mostly from his unlikely romance with a former city official turned accident-prone protester named Regina (Lily Kaufmann).

No matter. “Rock of Ages” rocks and rolls along towards a guaranteed happy ending at an unstoppable pace, and while it may be light, it is also lively and entertaining. And on a hot summer’s day, there’s nothing wrong with that.

The North Shore Music Theatre production of “Rock of Ages.” Book by Chris D’Arienzo. Arrangements and orchestrations by Ethan Popp. Direction by Kevin P. Hill. Choreographed by Sara Andreas. At the North Shore Music Theatre through Aug. 23. Nsmt.org