#FIRSTLOOK: “ROCK OF AGES” RETURNS TO TORONTO AT ELGIN THEATRE

By George Kozera

The Broadway smash ROCK OF AGES returns to Toronto, freshly-reimagined, and bristling with electricity and humour. Essentially, it’s about a small town girl, a city boy and can one #nd love on the Sunset Strip. A jukebox musical built around classic rock songs from the 1980s (Journey, Pat Benatar, Bon Jovi, Styx, Steve Perry to name just a few) with a large emphasis on the power ballads that dominated the FM radio stations.

This hyper-kinetic production dazzles with exceptional Choreography, but also succeeds due to the efforts of a genuinely-talented Cast. Whereas there are too many to list individually, Toronto native Dave Comeau, as Lonny, had the audience eating from his hands whenever he broke the “fourth wall”. As the “will they/won’t they” couple, Trevor Coll (Drew) and AJ Bridel (Sherrie) have wonderful chemistry together and their vocal chops are formidable. The stage is awash with spotlights and laser beams. What surprised me most was just how damned funny ROCK OF AGES is, with one John Tory joke that almost lifted the roof of the Elgin Theatre. There were no targets left unscathed, be it the movie version of the Musical which starred Tom Cruise or the sexual fluidity of many of the characters. Whereas this Show may not appeal to those who have never heard of Twisted Sister, this audience member was entertained to the max!

Some snaps from the Carpet attended by the likes of The Trews, Monster Truck, Humberly Gonzalez, Sean Jones, Cory Lee, Ishan Morris and more.

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ROCK OF AGES plays at the Elgin Theatre until May 20, 2023.

(Photo credit: George Kozera)