Rock of Ages (theatre)

Rock of Ages is a Jukebox Musical, with a book by Chris D'Arienzo, built around classic rock hits from the 1980s, especially from the famous glam metal bands of the decade. The musical features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Asia, among other well-known rock bands.

A movie will be released in 2012, directed by Adam "Hairspray" Shankman and starring Diego Boneta as Drew, Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx, Russell Brand as Lonnie, and Julianne Hough as Sherrie Christian. You can watch the trailer here.

If you're looking for the video game, head this way.


 * Acting for Two: Numerous instances. Lonny and Dennis both double with men from the record company, Sherrie's father also plays Stacee Jaxx, Regina/Candy, and Justice/Sherrie's mother. The Stacee/Sherrie's father casting is particularly jarring, since they end up having sex.
 * Bikini Bar: Where Sherrie temporarily works.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Quite often. At one point, Lonnie tells Drew he's in a Broadway show and produces a playbill to prove it.
 * Camp Straight:
 * The Cover Changes the Meaning: Several, the most notable being "Any Way You Want It", which is about strippers doing anything the client requests.
 * Jukebox Musical: The musical is little more than an excuse to play rock songs from the 1980s.
 * Just Friends: Played with. Sherrie and Drew are both quite nervous on their first date. Trying to calm them both down, Drew says they're "just two friends" out watching the stars and drinking wine. This leads to a spiraling chain of events where Sherrie has no-strings-attached sex in a bathroom and becomes a stripper.
 * Lampshade Hanging: In the Toronto production, Yvan Pedneault (Drew) explained away his rather noticeable French-Canadian accent by claiming to be from Detroit ... via Montreal.
 * Meaningful Name: Sherrie Christian. The two songs she is named for appear in the show.
 * Noodle Incident: Dennis refers to one as the reason Stacee Jaxx 'owes' him. Subverted in that the last line of the song from Dennis is
 * Self-Parody: Lonnie, the narrator, briefly discusses disappointment, and mentions how much he’d rather be be in a challenging play with complex characteriziation. Depending on whether or not the performer is sick of the fun but paper-thin show, this can easily be amusingly meta.
 * Shallow Love Interest: Sherrie and Drew fall in love because they both like cherry slurpies.
 * Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Bryan Cranston as The Mayor is absent from trailers and Diego Boneta as main character Drew is often Out of Focus.
 * Stripperific: Surprisingly enough, Sherrie's first stripper outfit is actually more modest than her normal, everyday outfit...
 * Title Drop: Amusingly averted. The producers couldn't get the rights to Def Leppard's song "Rock of Ages".
 * Waxing Lyrical: In an indirect example, the stars of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages are this: a small-town girl trying to escape her lonely world, and a city boy born and raised in south Detroit.