Back-to-back “Rock of Ages” and “Once” are an unusual one-two of first-timers, with music from the 1980s and 2000s, in Pittsburgh CLO’s 73rd summer season.
Where: Pittsburgh CLO at the Benedum Center, Downtown.
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets: $26.25-$81.25; pittsburghclo.org or 412-456-6666.
Before Tony-winning best musical “Once” takes the stage, CLO pumps up the volume for an ’80s jam, with the Tony-nominated hair-band musical “Rock of Ages” opening Tuesday at the Benedum Center.
After CLO’s fine turns with the lush classic scores of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and “Peter Pan,” it’s on to the music of Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and more.
The jukebox standards are the inspiration for a story about aspiring rocker Drew finding love with sweet Sherrie, and a Sunset Strip club endangered by redevelopers. To save the day, the club owner turns to bad boy rock god Stacee Jaxx, played by “American Idol” alum Ace Young.
The singer-songwriter, who appeared on season five of “AI,” is no stranger to musicals. He made his Broadway debut as Kenickie in the revival of “Grease” and toured in the ’50s rock musical as Danny Zuko. He later took over the role of Berger in the Broadway revival of “Hair,” succeeding Will Swenson, and later starred as Joseph in the national tour of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” alongside his wife, Diana DeGarmo, the “Idol” runner-up in season three.
Justin Matthew Sargent reprises his Broadway role as Drew, opposite Carnegie Mellon grad Tess Soltau as Sherrie, an aspiring actress from Kansas (wink-wink). The cast also includes Broadway veteran Gene Weygandt as club owner Dennis, Chicagoan Nick Druzbanski as narrator Lonny and Dan Peters of Chicago’s The West Side Winders as Lead Guitarist. Pittsburgh actor Jeffrey Howell and Nathan Salstone (CMU 2017), seen recently on Broadway in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” play Hertz and Franz, the schemers who want to bring down the club.
There are songs aplenty and a mostly tongue-in-cheek story driving “Rock of Ages,” which lasted for more than 2,300 performances, 2009-2015, on Broadway.
With another “American Idol” favorite, Constantine Maroulis, as Stacee Jaxx, The New York Times’ Charles Isherwood deemed the show to be “a seriously silly, absurdly enjoyable arena-rock musical,” and “about as guilty as pleasures get.”
“Don’t Stop Believing” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You” are among the songs meant to thrill nostalgia buffs, but the song that sums it all up is Starship’s “We Built This City.”
The 1985 song that declared, “We built this city on rock and roll” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-10-worst-songs-of-the-1980s-20488/1-starship-we-built-this-city-17392/ topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
The creators of “Rock of Ages” built this musical on ’80s rock and roll, and it keeps on ticking. It’s running strong in a long-term, off-Broadway engagement at New World Stages, and in Pittsburgh, CLO is ready to rock like it’s 1980.
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Sign up for the PG performing arts newsletter Behind the Curtain at Newsletter Preferences.
First Published: July 22, 2019, 2:27 p.m.
