Rock of Ages Edinburgh Playhouse

Well, where on earth can I start with this one? Perhaps from the beginning. It all started when I got to do a phone interview with the female lead (Cordelia Farnworth who plays the role of Sherrie Christian) last Wednesday afternoon. She was explaining about the whole vibe of how and what the show was going to entail – I have to say, from this I was very impressed – I was drawn in right from the word go!

I was even more impressed when arriving at The Playhouse in Edinburgh with two colleagues to get shown around to do another interview with male lead Ben Richards who plays Stacee Jaxx.

After the interview took place it was time to head into the theatre to watch what I can only describe as the most thrilling performance I have ever seen. The show already had very high reviews when it started its tour at the beginning of May in Manchester, so there were a lot of expectations.

The stage production had many a musical number taken from the film Rock of Ages, although the constraints of a theatre make for this obviously being very different to the cinema version. A common situation with most adaptations, but anything lost in the translation from screen to stage is more than made up for by the skilful staging of this show.

The songs and the story that was told throughout the show had the majority of the audience (all 2500 of them!) up and dancing and indeed laughing throughout the entire two and three-quarter hour performance. A round of applause for all the staff and performers at Edinburgh Playhouse for making things run so smoothly and effectively – very well done!

My advice to you is: don’t miss this. As for me, well, I’m now off to watch the film!

Jamie Wells