Orthodoxy tells us that hair metal was an aberration: a dragon, crude and swollen, who reigned over our radio waves until the knights of grunge slayed him.
Flannel replaced leather, unwashed hair replaced the kind you get by sticking a fork in an electric socket, and heartsick complexity replaced thudding literalness. But (and here’s some heresy for you): we threw out the baby with the Whitesnake.
The truth is, hair metal bands created any number of great songs, a truth readily apparent to anyone attending Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s production of Rock of Ages (onstage through October 5th). Yes, it’s a jukebox musical, but it’s a well-written one. It’s as amiable as a golden retriever. And nostalgia pours through the amps.
The female lead’s named Sherrie Christian, and if you suspect her name was chosen to set up performances of both “Sister Christian” and “Oh Sherrie,” your head’s on straight. Sherrie (Sidney Kaeb) is a Kansas-born innocent who leaves her loving, smothering parents for mid-80s Hollywood. There, she meets Drew Boley (Joel Siemen). He’s not exactly a Rhodes scholar, but his heart’s in the right place, and he has nurses an ambition: he wants to rock.
So far, so promising, except that Stacee Jaxx (Lucas Story) has come to town. Lean, minimally shirted, and possessing a certain greasy charm, Jaxx is frontman to a band called Arsenal. (The show’s rich with great band names, among them Concrete Balls). Arsenal’s breaking up, but they plan to play one final show. When Jaxx rotates into view, can Sherrie resist being pulled into orbit? And if she can’t, what will that mean for Drew?
This interpersonal drama is set against threatened citywide changes. Hertz Klinemann (Mike Anderson), a German developer, and his son, Franz (Gabriel McKay), intend to suffuse the city with Nordic humorlessness and order, ridding it of rock and roll in the process. City planner Regina Koontz (Emily Vandyk) finds herself in the role of counterrevolutionary. Can the homely vitality of rock and roll defeat the Germans’ designs?
Much like the music it’s based on, Rock of Ages aims more for your heart than your head. It never takes itself too seriously. Even the seedier aspects of Hollywood life have a candy sheen here. It’s impossible to find anything to dislike, unless you’re the father of Kai Beuker, who plays Waitress #1 (in a social media story, she revealed that he would have liked less of her revealed). Several times, I found myself rocking in my seat, grinning as “The Final Countdown,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” among other hits, played.
Siemen’s Boley is probably the best thing here. He has an unaffected soulfulness that makes the character seem like someone you might meet in a 7-11, and when given the chance to belt, he takes full advantage. Kaeb, is Sherrie, is wonderfully likable, too; you want nothing bad to happen to her, and you get the sense early on that the musical will make sure nothing does.
No character grows tiring; no scene goes on too long. The show stays fresh over the course of its two hours by moving briskly, throwing in jokes, and transitioning from anthem to power ballad and back again. It’s as much album as spectacle, and another solid production from a theatrical company seemingly allergic to filler.
Rock of Ages
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
Sept. 12-Oct. 5
https://www.grct.org/rockofages/
