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Home , Rock of Ages (musical)

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Hair-Raising Musical Rolls into NEPA

You know the story: small town girl moves to to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. She falls in love with an aspiring rock star. You know the words. That’s half the fun of a like Rock of Ages. Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre opens its 94th season on Friday, Sept. 9, with the regional premiere of the ’80s glam rock show. When “Don’t Stop Believin”’ cues the musical’s finale — and you know that’s how it will end — it is expected the audience from teen to senior will join in. Conceived by Chris D’Arienzo and constructed around ’80s rock and songs by Styx, Journey, , Pat Benetar, , Poison and others, Rock of Ages is not just for folks who grew up during the Reagan era, confirmed director Thomas Franko. “This is not your normal night of theatre. It’s like you’re going to Montage for a rock concert,” Franko said. “We think it’s going to attract a different group of people — not only the theatre crowd and the folks that always come and see shows at all the theaters, but it is going to attract new people.” While Rock of Ages is a theatrical show, Franko said, he likens it to getting 25 of your favorite ’80s hits for the $20 you might put in a jukebox at a local bar, plus a live stage show. Little Theatre has even applied for a liquor license to serve alcohol during the run of the show. Set on the notorious L.A. in 1987, Rock of Ages is a stylized music video world come to life and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Franko referred to a moment in which assistant club manager/narrator Lonny Barnett (Lou Lyons) jokes, “I was hired to explore deep and challenging plots and here I am narrating a show with boob jokes and songs.” “It’s a very hammed up script,” Franko said. “It’s not campy like Rocky Horror. This is like, ‘How many jokes can we squeeze into this?’ There are a handful, maybe two or three of what I’ll call serious moments, and my take on it is that we want to play up those serious moments to counterbalance the humor that’s in it.” The boy/aspiring musician is Drew Boley (Joey James) who meets girl/aspiring actress Sherrie Christian (Katie Owens) promptly after she gets off the bus from Kansas, and helps her get a job where he works in The Bourbon Room. The uncertain climate breeds the expected uncertain romance between the two. Stacee Jaxx (Conway Rowe) is the established rock star who both corners out the love triangle and also falls from grace, so that Drew can rise in his place. And because every story needs conflict and a villain, there is a pair of German developers (Christian Lynch and John Beppler) trying to buy up and clean up the Sunset Strip against the will of city planner (Maureen Hozempa) who leads the protest to save sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Make that insinuations of sex and drugs. If Franko was asked to rate the show, he’d give it a PG- 13. “Are there scenes where someone happens to get some in the men’s bathroom? Yes. There are scenes in a strip club. Obviously no one is stripping, but there are strippers,” Franko said. “Is there drug use in it? Yes. But nobody is doing heroin or cocaine. There’s a reference to one character who smokes a lot of weed, so we let him do his thing. Obviously it’s all fake.” The rock ‘n’ roll, on the other hand, is most definitely real. “In a lot of productions, the band is either in a pit or they’re backstage. With this the band — Arsenal — is an actual integral component of the show and had lines. We built on the stage, a band stage that they are going to be on, so you will see two guitars, the bassist, a drummer and a keyboard player.” While most people who buy Rock of Ages tickets are probably coming for the music, Franko said, he still worked with his cast to ensure everyone on stage — from leads to ensemble members — has a character that will develop during the course of the show. “They all came up with their own names, their own back stories and mannerisms. We incorporated some of that into the costuming … and it helps give them stuff to do in the background instead of just being there, they can be there in their character. It’s the ’80s: they might want to be drinking a wine cooler.” Just because the score features popular tunes doesn’t mean it’s easy to sing, especially for classically trained singers, the director assured. “Those of us who have a very theatrical voice, a lyrical voice, probably can’t do justice to this show. In the same manner that you wouldn’t see David Lee Roth sing a Josh Groban tune, and you don’t see Josh Groban sing anything from Van Halen. It just wouldn’t happen. They are two very different types of vocals… (Rock of Ages) has to sound like a rock and roll show. It has to sound like a concert. So we can’t have those voices mixing.” The production team searched for five weeks to cast the show, holding extra auditions to find the requisite “very, very heavy rock tenor type voices,” in particular, said Franko. The resulting cast features some musical theatre veterans along with performers new to Little Theatre. Both Joey James, who is the show’s musical director and who plays Drew, and Conway Rowe, who plays Stacee Jaxx, are making their Little Theatre debuts. James joined Trans- Siberian Orchestra tribute band Twelve Twenty-Four shortly after graduating from West Chester. Rowe works with Act Out in Taylor and auditioned specifically for the rock star role. “He just blew it out of the park at the audition,” Franko said. “He costumed himself. He went out and got a rhinestone belt buckle that says “Stacee” on it.” Other notable newcomers are choreographer Dan Pittman from Chambersburg, who responded to an ad placed on a state arts network/board after knowing NEPA only from his work with the Chipotle restaurant chain. “He works a lot with kids and really wanted to work on a show he could grind his teeth on,” Franko said. “There are a lot of meaty dance numbers. Out of 25 songs, 13 or 14 are fully choreographed.” Pittman has had significant help from dance captain Janelle Nemetz and Kayt Musto, assistant dance captain. “As a director, my first concern is that everybody is having fun and everybody is feeling that it is a positive experience in a positive environment, and you feel supported from both the institution and the crew and from each other, and I think we have that,” Franko said. “The cast is always laughing. …They’ve been hearing the punch-line jokes for two months now and they are still laughing, so I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when people who haven’t seen it, see it. We’re busting our butts and we’re sweating our butts off, but we’re having fun and that’s the most important thing, and because we’re having so much fun, that’s going to spill out into the crowd.”

IF YOU GO: What: Rock of Ages Where: Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, 537 N. Main St. When: Sept. 9 to 25, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets: $20; rocknepa.com or 570-823-1875