“Rock of Ages" at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre -- June 27 through July 7.
Thursday, June 27, through Sunday, July 7
Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, 311 Riverview Drive, Clinton IA
Described by Time Out New York as an “insanely fun mixtape musical” and by Variety as a show that “gleefully apes the worst excesses of the era's pole-dancing, crotch-grinding, big-hair-tossing movies,” the Broadway smash Rock of Ages enjoys a June 27 through July 7 run at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, treating audiences to a celebration of 1980s chart-toppers that NY1 called “so cleverly staged and impressively performed that it's an irresistible, offbeat trip of a show that hits all the right notes.”
As Rock of Ages begins, it’s the tail end of the big, bad 1980s in Hollywood, and the party has been raging hard. Aqua Net, Lycra, lace, and liquor flow freely at one of the Sunset Strips last legendary venues, a place where sex machine Stacee Jaxx takes the stage and scantily clad groupies line up to turn their fantasies into reality. Amidst the madness, aspiring rock star and resident toilet cleaner Drew longs to take the stage as the next big thing – and also longs for Sherri, a starry-eyed small-town girl fresh off the bus from Kansas. But the rock-and-roll fairytale looks about to end after German developers sweep into town with plans to turn the fabled Strip into just another capitalist strip mall. Can Drew, Sherri, and the gang save the strip, and themselves, before it's too late?
Only the music of iconic bands such as Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, and Whitesnake hold the answer as Rock of Ages delivers a cornucopia of classics from the '80s, with the musical's characters belting out such unforgettable hits as Night Ranger's “Sister Christian,” Foreigner's “I Want to Know What Love Is,” REO Speedwagon's “Keep on Loving You,” and the Twisted Sister anthem “We're Not Gonna Take It.” The original Broadway production of Rock of Ages ran for 2,328 performances, closing on January 18, 2015, and is currently tied as the 32nd-longest-running show in Broadway history. Since debuting in New York in 2009, the musical has also spawned replica productions worldwide in Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom, among other locales, and the original Broadway production earned five Tony Award nominations including Best Musical.
Rock of Ages will be performed in Clinton from June 27 through July 7, with performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays and Wednesdays at 3 p.m. For more information and tickets, call (563)242-6760 and visit ClintonShowboat.org.
