PRESS

"Is “Rock of Ages” really a show for the ages? It’s turning out to be a lot less transitory than its ostensible subject, hair metal. The jukebox musical, which began life in a Hollywood nightclub before taking flight as a long-running Broadway show and less popular motion picture, is returning to its clubby L.A. roots. But the revival is landing in a specially created restaurant/bar venue with more upscale offerings than were offered in any of the Sunset Strip’s peroxide dives back in the day.

This production of “Rock of Ages” opens for six performances a week beginning Sept. 10 in a 250-seat room with full dinner and bar service provided by “celebrity chef” Todd English. The space, on Hollywood Blvd. a block away from the famous intersection with Vine, has been dubbed the Bourbon Room and Rock of Ages Hollywood Theater. These “immersive” shows will take place Wednesday through Sunday in an open-ended run. ..."

"When it comes to hair — long beautiful hair or gleaming streaming hair or flaxen waxen hair — I am afraid that sweet nostalgia trip about flower children and free love has already become an also-ran on Broadway.

You want hair? Big hair? Hair you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley?

The champ is unquestionably “Rock of Ages,” a seriously silly, absurdly enjoyable arena-rock musical that thrashed open at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on Tuesday night in front of a bobbing sea of cigarette lighters waved aloft. The frothing piles of pleated, teased, bleached, dyed and fried tresses being tossed around in this new show about the good old days — in this case the 1980s on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles — make “Hair” look tame indeed, virtually Rogaine-ready, the Yul Brynner of musicals...."

7 Reasons to Love ‘Rock of Ages’

"Rock of Ages – the arena-rock jukebox musical that mixes songs by the likes of Bon Jovi, Foreigner, and Journey with a story about “dreaming big, playing loud and partying on” – just opened on Broadway. Even though I had heard good things, I was skeptical that it was going to be a total cheesefest peppered with jokes about Aqua Net and Bartles & James.

Turns out that’s exactly what it is. Which is to say, awesome!

Here are seven reasons why it’s a must see:

7. The follow your dreams/true love conquers all plotline is as thin as a Whitesnake groupie’s g-string — and it works. Set in the ’80s in L.A. (“If a fella had a dream and a decent amount of hair, there was nowhere else to be”), it follows Drew (American Idol’s Constantine Maroulis), a wannabe rocker working at a club on the Sunset Strip that’s set to be demolished to make way for a Footlocker. His love interest Sherrie, a small town girl (living in a lonely world, if you know what I mean) and struggling actress, breaks his heart when she has a one-night stand with Stacee Jaxx, the sex god lead singer of Arsenal, a.k.a, the most awesomest band ever. What ever will happen? Will Drew and Sherrie finally get together? Will they save the club? Will they actually sing Def Leopard’s “Rock of Ages”? You’ll have to buy a ticket to find out.

6. You get to drink cans of Coors Light while sitting in a red velvet chair in an 85-year-old Broadway theater. Forget those tiny plastic cups of warm Chardonnay you have to down in the lobby of those other snooty Broadway shows. At the Brooks Atkinson Theater, vendors walk down the aisles hawking cold six packs like they’re at a Mets game. ..."