Theatre
Rock of Ages
City Theatre, Valletta

Remember the big shoulder pads, the bigger hair, yuppies and the start of teen movies? Well, TAC Theatre’s production of D’Arienzo and Popp’s smash hit musical Rock of Ages isn’t about that.

It’s about the great music of the 1980s – the hair bands, the neon, the leather pants – the whole rock and pop hoopla which MTV beamed into millions of homes in the US and worldwide.

Directed by Marc Cabourdin and Wesley Ellul, with choreography by Sue Vassallo and Renzo Spiteri’s musical direction, TAC have hit on the ideal musical to watch this summer. With incredibly popular songs bound to get the audience tapping and bopping, if not head-banging, this was a slick and incredibly enjoyable production from start to finish.

Chris Dingli acted brilliantly as MC, Lonny, who knows when to address the audience and break the fourth wall in true self-conscious theatre comedy, telling us the classic story of boy meets girl, both have stars in their eyes and both too shy to admit they like each other – but this is just a premise to put those great 1980s tunes into action and tell a story.

Overarching themes also included anti-establishment sentiment, the plight of the little guy versus big corporations, the curse of urban development and, of course, challenging our own sense of direction in life.

This was a slick and incredibly enjoyable production from start to finish

Stefan Cheriet Busuttil’s Dennis Dupree, a bar owner of one of the Sunset Strip’s legendary rock venues, made a splash in one of the most enjoyable roles I’ve seen him perform, while Kurt Calleja made a surprisingly credible and earnest Drew Bowley – a rockstar hopeful who falls for Dennis’s newest waitress, Sherri Christian, on my night interpreted by Taryn Mamo Cefai, whose consistent high-pitched mid-western accent was spot on.

Calleja and Mamo Cefai are both relatively new to musicals, with the former being a professional singer and the latter mostly a television actress. However, their ability to fit the parts and interpret their characters rather sweetly, if you succumb to the archetypes of musical theatre, made for an enjoyable core couple you could root for.

Errol Sammut as Stacee Jaxx and Nadia Vella as Sherrie in Rock of Ages. Photos: Tomasz Starowicz, Magdalena Wcislo

The supporting cast and the ensemble, all showed clear discipline and spot on musicality, thanks to Roger Tirazona’s vocal coaching and the direction by the Ellul-Cabourdin duo.

But it was the smaller cameo roles which also gave the production its strength. Colin Fitz and James Ryder played father and son duo Hertz and Franz Klinemann, German property tycoons who wish to develop the Sunset Strip into the typical 1980s high-rise landscape, making it streamlined and “efficient”.

Rachel Fabri plays Regina McKaig, the mayor’s assistant, who campaigns strongly against it, while Katherine Brown plays strip joint owner and madame Justice Charlier, who takes Sherrie under her wing when Stacee Jaxx (Errol Sammut) breaks her heart after having his way with her.

While Ryder, Fitz and Fabri’s roles were purely comical and great fun to watch, Brown’s was slightly more maternal and shared a poignant moment or two.

I have long been a fan of Sammut’s vocals and he did not disappoint at all – he played the classic douche-y bad boy following the sex, drugs and rock n’roll mantra to a T and gave a great performance, with pretty on point interpretation too.

What was so enjoyable about the whole show is that massively big rock classics of the 1980s were expertly woven into a good story and still showcased the songs for the quality pieces they are.

I deliberately avoided mentioning them in this review because it is simply much more fun to go and watch this feel-good, incredibly well-executed show from a sound, lighting and staging perspective too, and discover which songs will make you want to rock and sing to.

On a final extra-critical note, the night I happened to be watching, the couple in front of us was American and when the show ended, they turned to us and appreciatively said that as New Yorkers used to Broadway shows, TAC’s production was as slick and energy-filled as any and certainly a great night out.

• Rock of Ages is being staged at City Theatre, Valletta today and tomorrow at 8pm.