Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages

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Reviewed by Nicky Jones

Opening Night verdict ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bringing the audience straight back to 1987, Rock of Ages opens with a guitar solo which had the audience whooping, cheering and clapping from the very beginning!

This riotous rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza is back entertaining audiences of Manchester once again, featuring all your favourite 80s rock hits including Don’t Stop Believing (Journey), We Built This City (Starship) and Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar).

The show is put together in true jukebox style, with incredible vocals coming from both the leads and the ensemble.

The plot of Rock of Ages is a classic love story – a small-town girl Sherrie (Rhiannon Chesterman) has moved to the big city to achieve her dreams of being a Hollywood actress.

She meets wannabe rock star Drew (Luke Walsh) and they clearly have chemistry right from the start, however throughout the show the couple face challenges which prevent them being together. These include friend-zoning, following their dreams, love-rival rock stars like Stacee Jaxx (Kevin Clifton), who focuses his interests on making his ego bigger and doesn’t care who he hurts along the way – much to the disappointment of Sherrie – and two German property developers wanting to take away their hotspot venue and the place that’s given them a chance; The Bourbon Room.


Throughout the show, humour was embedded into both the writing and the performances. Lonny (Joe Gash) interacts with the audience with tongue and cheek jokes – even picking on an audience member and repeatedly returning to her as the subject of his jokes. All of his lines were delivered with endless amounts of energy and brought so much joy to the auditorium. This was a real highlight of the show. He had impeccable comedic timing and had everyone belly laughing after each delivered line. This is a really fun side to the script that really keeps the show moving, especially as the show doesn’t have a strong narrative. However, this doesn’t matter as the cast totally rock the stage without a strong plot – which is what the audiences are really there to see!


A stand out scene was Regina (Rhiannon Chesterman) and Franz (Andrew Carthy)’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot – it’s outrageous, camp and just a scream – it’ll keep you laughing right until the end of the show!


The staging and production totally make you feel like you’re back in the 1980s at a rock gig – the lighting is bright, retro amplifiers are all over back wall and the live band are centre stage.

The night was tied up with an audience favourite ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, which had everybody up dancing and clapping with huge smiles back on their faces.

Kevin Clifton gave a touching speech after the final few notes – thanking everybody for supporting live theatre once again.

Overall, this show is a complete team effort from the cast. There isn’t one or two stand out leads, but instead the whole cast continually bring each scene to life.

It’s big, it’s bold and it’s been entertaining audiences for years! It’s a fantastic night out of nostalgia – don’t miss it whilst it’s back in Manchester.


Rock of Ages is at the Opera House until Saturday 9th October 2021 tickets available here.

Interview | Joanne Clifton talks Rocky Horror

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rocky horror

Professional dancer, singer and actress Joanne Clifton is quickly gaining a strong reputation as one of the most versatile performers in the business as she continues to win rave reviews for her musical theatre performances. After appearing in Manchester recently as both Milly in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Alex in the iconic Flashdance, she’s now back to do The Time Warp at Manchester’s Opera House alongside her Flashdance co-star Ben Adams in The Rocky Horror Picture Show which opens tonight in the city.

We caught up with Joanne ahead of opening night to hear a little more.

Welcome back to Manchester Joanne, what a fun show to return with!

Absolutely, I am having so much fun it’s the craziest show to work on and I’m so excited to be back in Manchester, I can’t wait to perform and get back to my favourite places like Albert Schloss and Australasia too. I have really come to love Manchester, when I was doing Strictly with Ore I was training up here in Manchester and came to really love the city and he showed me so many amazing places. Plus working on this show is just so much fun, I really didn’t know much about it at all before I auditioned and I’ve come to love it so much.

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I guess you danced The Time Warp many times in your dance career, how does it feel performing it on stage in such an iconic show?

It’s brilliant, we get such a buzz from the audience too, I’ve probably been performing the Timewarp every Halloween since I was a little girl without every really knowing what it was so to perform it on stage with this incredible company is just wonderful. It’s such a loved show.

It certainly is a show which has cult following, how has that experience been for you?

In rehearsals our director Christopher Luscombe had told us to expect shouting out and gave examples of what we can expect at the usual parts where people shout out which we all found so funny but then when you are out of the rehearsal room and have a theatre full of people shouting out different things at unexpected times it’s something else. That’s what really makes this show so special, its fan base is amazing. Just looking out to the audience and seeing all the effort people have made and the different costumes they’re wearing, seeing different people dressed as your character and so many others is brilliant. I’ve noticed after seeing people being so daring with their costumes I’ve started getting a bit more daring with my clothes for press nights and things.

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Do you think the fact people can be adventurous and a bit more daring is part of the shows timeless appeal?

Yes, I think the message of just being who you want to be really is what we all want, what we’re all striving for and that message really speaks to people.

How is it working with Ben Adams again?

It’s great, we’re best mates so I knew we’d have loads of fun, we had a great time doing Flashdance and now this, it’s almost like we come as a package. We recorded a song from Flashdance which did really well and now we’ve recorded Damn It, Janet from Rocky Horror which is available on Spotify and Itunes, we’re also writing a musical together which we’re really excited about.

Your brother Kevin is about to star in Rock of Ages which we had in Manchester recently have you offered him any advice?

Not really advice as such but Kevin decided he wanted to try musical theatre after seeing how happy starring in shows has made me, we’ve both been performers from such a young age and we love doing that. Kevin had his first rehearsal this week and he couldn’t wait to ring me and tell me how much he loved it. It’s something that makes me so happy and seeing that convinced him to give it a try too.

Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show tours the UK until 2nd November 2019. For tickets and venues visit http://www.rockyhorror.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Rock of Ages

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Rock of Ages UK Tour ©The Other Richard

Opening Night verdict ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Writer Nikki Cotter

Big hair, big laughs and even bigger voices, Rock of Ages is lewd, loud and most definitely proud!

This riotous rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza return’s to Manchester this week as part of a new UK tour, with uncomplicated debauchery at the top of its agenda. Right from the opening scenes it’s clear that Rock of Ages is a show which doesn’t take itself too seriously and is more than happy to poke fun at the era, the script, the cast and even the audience who absolutely lap it up.

Rock of Ages UK Tour ©The Other Richard

Rock of Ages transports us back to the 1980’s where small town girl Sherrie (Danielle Hope) and wannabe rock God Drew (Luke Walsh) have headed to Hollywood to pursue their dreams. Things of course don’t quite go according to plan and despite clearly fancying the pants off each other their love story seems more stop than start as they search for their happy ending on the Sunset Strip. Add to this a couple of German property developers who want to turn their beloved Bourbon Room into a snazzy mall and we soon find that not only do they have to try to save themselves but the Strip too.

There’s so much to enjoy about this show that the lack of narrative really doesn’t matter, the cast came here to rock our socks off and that is exactly what they do. It’s clear to see why this feisty and fun show has a huge cult following, not only are the performances top class the show is also incredibly witty with an infectious energy.

Rock of Ages UK Tour ©The Other Richard

Lucas Rush shines as the cheeky narrator Lonny, his boundless energy and naughty charisma make him an absolute joy to watch. Danielle Hope is perfectly cast as Sherrie, belting out the big ballads with apparent ease while her love interest Luke Walsh comes close to stealing the show with his knock-out performance as Drew, add to this a power-house performance from Zoe Birkett as Justine and you’ve got some of the finest voices in musical theatre right there on one stage.

Rhiannon Chesterman and Andrew Carthy as Regina and Franz respectively are an absolute scream, their outrageous duet during Hit Me with Your Best Shot has the audience howling; while audience favourite Kevin Kennedy strikes the right note as bar owner Dennis.

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Director and Choreographer Nick Winston ensures the pace is fast and the choreography is as tight as a rock stars jeans as the incredibly talented cast belt out rock classic after rock classic including The Final Countdown, We Built This City, In Want to Know What Love Is and the infectiously uplifting Don’t Stop Believin’.

It’s cheesy and it knows it but oh so entertaining. With its tongue firmly in its cheek, stunning performances and lots of cheeky fun, Rock of Ages is big, bold, in-your-face theatre which entertains from start to finish.

Catch it at Manchester’s Opera House until Saturday 29th September tickets available here.