SUBMITTED BY ROBERT C. BYRD THEATRE DEPARTMENT:

 

Last spring they amazed us with Shrek, the Musical and now the Robert C. Byrd High School Theatre Department will produce a rock/jukebox musical that is built around classic rock songs from the 1980s, especially from the famous glam metal bands of that decade: Journey, Whitesnake, Styx, Bon Jovi to name a few. Prepare for a rock-concert-meets-musical-theatre experience!

 

Robert C. Byrd High School Theatre Department will present Rock of Ages: High School Edition to the public on April 6 – 8th at 7:30pm and April 9 at 2 p.m. in the RCB Auditorium. Tickets are available for reservation online at https://25963.smallvenueticketing.com (VIP seating $15 and Reserved $12) or at the door for $10.

 

The production is produced by Emily Moore and directed by David Cotton. Assisting is music director, Rita Brockway, and choreographer, Kim Bell. The cast and crew consist of 72 RCB students and 4 WI Middle School students, and is facilitated by Rebecca Mearns (play sponsor/prop master), Larry Zinn (set designer), Dave Yazvac (master carpenter), John Martin (technical director), Tony Bell (lighting director), Karen Bisset (costuming director), Nina Wagner (head stage manager), Staci Saiz (stage right manager), Bryce McCabe (stage left manager) and Paige Boram (dramaturg).

 

“This show is a departure from anything we have ever done and it has pushed our boundaries! The LED lighting and special effects will have you amazed that this is a high school production and not a professional rock concert!” claims producer, Emily Moore.

 

Rock of Ages: High School Edition takes you back to the times of big bands with big egos playing big guitar solos and sporting even bigger hair! This Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical features the hits of bands including Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, and others. Our narrator, Lonny Barnett (Andrew Richards), sets the stage for us and we quickly find out we are in the late 1980s on the Los Angeles strip which is being threatened by German developers, Hilda (Megan Strange) and Franz Klinemann (Caleb Fazzini). Then, we meet a barback, Drew Boley (Ryan Longerbeam), and an aspiring actor, Sherrie Christian (Karlee Forinash), who instantly find a spark between them as they work together at the Bourbon Room which is owned by Dennis Dupree (Riki Satterfield). He and Venus a Go-Go owner, Justice Charlier (Chloe Boswell), are among the businesses that are threatened--but never fear—Anita Bath (Paige Boram) is there to organize a protest to save the strip! In conjunction with a huge rock concert featuring the rich and famous rocker Stacee Jaxx (Anthony Hardy) and a love triangle of epic proportions, it all somehow works out right.

 

“We love to challenge ourselves by creating theater that is outside of the box,” said Artistic Director David Cotton. “This year, the experience has taken me back to a much simpler time in my life. The show is set in 1987, which is not only 30 years ago, but also the year I graduated from high school in Baltimore, Md. These songs were a part of the soundtrack of my youth, and listening to the incredibly talented cast and musicians bringing them back to life, and making them their own in the process is pretty awesome.”

 

Audiences can expect a family friendly version of what they might have seen in the 2012 movie version starring Tom Cruise and Julianne Hough. In the words of David Coverdale of the band Whitesnake, “Enjoy having your face melted.”