Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...The Broadway Playhouse is, of course, where “Rock of Ages” should have played from the start, preferably with an Equity company, but that's all wine coolers under the bridge. As long as you have not seen this show four times in the call of duty, or have an aversion to campy lingerie, or think making a show very meta does not cover every dramaturgical sin in the book, you may now grab your wine coolers with impunity, leave your ear plugs at home (it's not that loud, actually) and take yourself and your loved ones back to an era when loving someone meant making them a mixtape they could keep, or throw away with you."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The onstage band of five, led by Darren Ledbetter, is terrific. All the performers sing and dance tirelessly, with the best voice belonging to Amma Osei, the black madam who runs the strip club. Nevertheless, the mix of stupidity, crotch-focused sleaze and faux sweetness in this show still leaves me wanting to head for the exit."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Due mainly to sloppy casting, we get a kind of trifecta of ugly caricatures: a black big-city mayor whose eyes go Stepin Fetchit wide at the sight of a bribe, a black snake of a manager for the aspiring-rock-star hero, and a black mother hen at the local lap-dance palace. Taken together—and added to the show's pro-forma, chicks-are-toys sexism—these turns give a bigoted edge to what D'Arienzo no doubt saw as an honest piece of hucksterism."
Centerstage
- Recommended
"...Survivors of the big hair, tight spandex and head bangin’ musical hits of the ’80’s will love this trip down memory lane. The slim plot, about two young people who come to LA to find fame (and love in the process), is basically summed up in the show’s finale, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.’” With a book by Chris D’Arienzo and music by Styx, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi and other Glam Rock groups, this 2009 juke box musical, now in its second visit to Chicago, succeeds as a nostalgic voyage through 32 hits from the Reagan years."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...As in the fizzy musical comedies of Tin Pan Alley, the story here exists merely to get us from one song to the next, reliably yielding idiotic situations. At one point, a father challenges his son to a fistfight so that the son has an excuse to sing “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.” Playwright Chris D’Arienzo sets the action at a grungy club on L.A.’s Sunset Strip, where aspiring rock god Drew (Dominique Scott) struggles to win the hand of waitress Sherrie (Shannon Mullen), despite interference from a Bret Michaels/David Lee Roth hybrid called Stacee Jaxx (Matt Nolan, who gives Cruise a run for his money, abs-wise). Meanwhile, evil Germans plot to gentrify the neighborhood."
Around The Town Chicago
- Recommended
"...This is a “Rock concert” so the audience is expected to react to the music. In fact, they even hand out fake Bic lighters when you enter the auditorium ( flashlights) so you can enjoy the total “Rock” experience.Yes, many peope will want to wait for the movie ( Tom Cruise is starring), but let’s be honest- there is nothing as great as “live theater” and a concert is far better when witnessed “live”, so why wait?"
Huffington Post
- Recommended
"...Rock of Ages is a great time and the energy level works in the smaller Broadway Playhouse -- you feel like you're part of the party. However, this being a non-Equity tour, the cast doesn't quite have the requisite attitude and power vocals to, as they say, melt our faces. Take for example Scott's Drew, with his pleasing tenor and delicate features that seem to wince in anticipation of the power notes. In the first national tour, original star and American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis attacked the songs like a maniac. You believed Maroulis' Drew could be the front-man to a Poison-like metal band. I missed that power here. Greatly."
