off-stage right

So on Saturday, I went to see Rock of Ages.  I had very low expectations and figured at least the in seat drink service would provide enough refreshments to make it through the evening.  But from the moment I entered the Brooks Atkinson I realized I had stepped on board of a roller coaster ride unlike any I had really experienced.

I was handed my requisite LED flashlight (to be used concert fashion during the show).  Eighties music was making the entire theater pulsate – made me realize most shows don’t use preshow music much anymore.  As soon as we were in our seats a cocktail waitress in an 80s leather-mini and fishnet hose took our cocktails order – mixed drinks!   We ordered.  A woman from mid row charged over us to get to the waitress with a quick apology, she hadn’t ever been to a Broadway show so she didn’t know how the waitress got orders for the folks in the center of the row.  While the foot she stomped on smarted I smiled politely and said, “no worries, I didn’t know either.”  Over the music I heard the cocktail waitress tell the patrons behind me that in seat drinks was the future of Broadway and next year everyone would be doing it.

A quick look around the house revealed an audience that was younger than most.  A dozen or so sailors from Fleet week, lots of under forties couples and packs and pack of female groups obviously having a girls night out.

The lights went down a bit, and I was worried we didn’t have our drinks yet, but the waitress assured us she would get them to us during the first number, so I sat back as the band was introduced.  The audience went nuts and the roller coaster reached the top of the first hill and began that high speed decent that creates a thrill.

Yes, a thrill.  Now perhaps as a child of the 80s I am predisposed.  When Quiet Riot’s Cum on Feel the Noize started i remembered my mom snapping off the music in my room, telling me it was a “trashy” song, so I put on my big old headphones to listen to it.   I had this huge desire to sing along to every song and this odd feeling that it would have been accepted, in fact several audience members did.

The plot is so simple that the show makes fun of it throughout, but it is also more or less the same plot of EVERY musical from the Golden Era, boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, rich villain tries to close club where boy works, boy loses girl, girl becomes a stripper, boy and girl reunite, rich villain has change of heart, club is saved – okay maybe the stripper part was unique.

But despite the predictability, the camp, the interruption  to pass drinks down the row, and the over the top, well everything.  I was actually having more fun than I remember ever having in a Broadway house.   Constantine Maroulis and Amy Spangler led a cast that belted out 80s tune after 80s tune that I not only listened to throughout high school, but that I still listen to much to the dismay of my husband who has much better taste in music than I do.   For all the articles written about Idol performers being on Broadway (and how often the shows judges use the term Broadway as a criticism), I wasn’t surprised to learn this morning on the TODAY show when the cast performed that Constantine Maroulis actually started out WANTING to be a musical theatre actor, his performance was subtle and engaging – the best on the stage the performance I saw.   That’s not to say the rest of the cast wasn’t entertaining because they were really truly having fun on stage and it was infectious.

The only downer of the night was on the projection screen at the back of the set during the intermission and post-show – an advertisement for discount tickets for future performances if you retained your stub from that evening.  A grim reminder that box office on Broadway needs all the help it can get and that this super fun show cost an outrageous 100+ bucks.  Suddenly I was yearning for a strong off-Broadway where an affordable version of the show would run for years and years, but alas we are in different times.

All in all it was a full out right experience with a little Broadway show tucked in, and that was more than all right by me.

Kudos to the producers for wringing out every possible marketing opportunity from the show.  I even used the LED flashlight when I got home to find my keys in my purse!