Get ready for tight pants, ‘80s hair, comedy and a messy love triangle.
Rock of Ages plays at the Lester Centre of the Arts on April 7-9 and the cast and crew have already started to ramp up their rehearsals.
The musical is just as much for rock music aficionados as it is for theatregoers, with featured tunes from Bon Jovi, Styx, Journey, Pat Benatar and Twisted Sister.
The cast is made up of actors, dancers and musicians with varying experiences. Triple Bypass, the popular Prince Rupert rock band, performs on stage as the band Arsenal. Kitimat resident, Josh Marsh, from the cover band The Rats, plays Stacee Jaxx, the pompous lead singer who interferes with the budding love between Sherrie Christian and Drew Boley.
The play transports the audience to the ‘80s, when Sherrie moves to L.A. from a small town to make it big on the Sunset Strip. The role is played by Lauren Armstrong, who was in Les Misérables, Sweet Charity and Little Shop of Horrors.
“For my character, it’s a story of having a plan in mind for yourself, having that dream, going for it and discovering that the dream you think you want isn’t necessarily what life has in store but it’s better than what you had planned,” Armstrong said.
This was the first play she has been in where the story was written based on music that had already been released. The seasoned actress saw the play in Vegas last year, which gave her a sense of the story and audience perception. Auditions were held in October, and the cast began to rehearse in January three days a week leading up to the spring performance.
Armstrong prepared for her role by listening to the music on repeat and re-reading the script to figure out what her character wants.
“Ultimately, she wants love, but she thinks she wants something else,” she said. Her favourite scene is when Sherrie meets Stacee.
Sherrie picks up a waitressing job at the Bourbon Room around the same time the club owners convince Stacee to perform his final gig with Arsenal. The musical made the silver screen in 2005, with a star-studded cast including Tom Cruise as Stacee, who is played by Marsh.
“The play is way better,” Marsh said, who waited to watch the film until after he memorized the script and did all the research on his role. He got involved in the musical when Triple Bypass’s Paul Cox asked him if he would be interested. He said he jumped at the chance.
“We (The Rats) play a lot of the stuff that is in the show. I was already prepared for those songs,” he said. The last time he performed as an actor on stage was at Mount Elizabeth Secondary School in Kitimat.
The other lead actor, Aaron Viktil, is also stepping out his comfort zone as the singer and guitarist in Replica, a heavy metal Metallica cover band, to play the wannabe rocker Drew. He auditioned to have a part — any part — in the play, not expecting to get the lead role.
Drew also works at the Bourbon Room, and he was about to give up on his dream to be a rocker but then he meets Sherrie. Armstrong helped Viktil in his role as a character who is naive and overly friendly.
There are some racy scenes, which is why the play is rated for audiences 14 and older.
Tickets for assigned seating are now available for purchase for the three performances, $30 for adults or $25 for students.
