By Russ Tarby
Contributing writer
Audiences who catch “Rock of Ages” – the free-wheeling 1980s jukebox musical now playing at CNY Playhouse – will be able to tell their grandchildren that they saw actress Hali Greenhouse in her first leading role as a semi-professional.
Yes, she’s that good.
In fact, Hali’s future’s so bright, she’ll be tempted to wear shades, but she should resist. All the better to beam those big blue eyes at her audiences – or at the camera. As an actress, she puts her dime-sized azure irises to good use whether twinkling with humor or deeply soul-searching.
She does both in “Rock of Ages” starring as the prairie-raised Sherrie Christian, an aspiring actress newly arrived in Hollywood where she immediately falls in love with a Sunset Strip bar back named Drew Boley who yearns to rock out as “Wolfgang Von Colt.” Sometimes indecisive, sometimes incendiary, Tyler Ianuzi’s would-be rocker is well-characterized by his powerful singing voice and spirited acting as Drew wins, then loses then re-wins Sherrie’s heart.
Drew’s rival for Sherrie’s affection is Stacee Jaxx, a big-headed glam-rocker surrounded by scantily clad groupies. As Stacee, Derek Potocki nearly steals the show several times as on his version of Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noise” and Styx’s “Renegade.” Along the way, the athletically-built Potocki establishes himself as the absolute best slice of beefcake in local theater.
“Rock of Ages” director Dan Rowlands wisely opted to go for big laughs in this production. The show is, after all, a stinging satire of those pretentious power ballads that dominated the 1980s. Rowlands and his cast of 22 plus five onstage musicians helmed by Abel Searor, Harry Lumb and Erica Moser, never let things get too serious. Better to be broad than cheeky, a philosophy clearly embraced by Josh Taylor as the show’s wiseass narrator, Lonny. Taylor keeps the show moving from the Bourbon Room to the Venus club, from episode to episode, from song to song.
He excels with one-liners, some seemingly ad-libbed. When Sherrie comments that Stacee is better than the band Concrete Balls, Taylor’s Lonny quickly quips, “That’s a good point. Concrete Balls are very heavy.”
With her innocence lost in a men’s room tryst, Sherrie is forced to take a job as a pole dancer at a strip club, and Greenhouse rises to the occasion clad in a sparkly fire-engine-red tank suit and before later donning a black leather skirt and black bra. She performs Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You” as Sherrie’s shamed into giving Stacee a lap dance.
Blonde-haired and petite with a smile that can melt faces, Hali was last seen as one of Cinderella’s step-sisters in “Into the Woods” and last year turned heads with her fetching portrayal of an elevator operator in the “1940s Radio Hour.”
But Hali’s no longer playing the cute kid in the corner. She’s a woman now, singing lead, belting out tunes with abandon, harmonizing effortlessly and exploding like a supernova at centerstage. Her standout numbers include Quarterflash’s “Harden My Heart” paired with Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night,” and a duet with Ianuzi on Damn Yankees’ “High Enough.”
Other cast members also shine here, including Christopher James Lupia as the fuzzy-haired pothead clubowner, Dennis, Eric Feldstein as a heartless German developer, Cole LaVenture as his son and Kristina Abbott as the Venus club’s world-wise manager. Abbott blossoms on Poison’s “Every Rose has its Thorn.”
Three fresh faces grace the CNY Playhouse stage in this show – spunky Sabrina Becker as the community activist Regina, the well-proportioned Anna Sanzone decked out in pink fishnet stockings as Waitress No. 1, and slender brunette Jodi Halczyn as a worshipful rock’n’roll reporter. Welcome to the ensemble, ladies!
“Rock of Ages” ain’t for the faint of heart nor for kids. But it’ll surely tickle the fancies of mature audiences who fondly recall that carefree age of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll.
“Rock of Ages,” produced by Kathy Egloff, runs at 8 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 19, 20 and 21, at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 22, and at 8 p.m. July 26, 27 and 28, at CNY Playhouse, located near the Macy’s entrance at on the second level of ShoppingTown Mall. Tickets cost $25 on Thursday and Sunday and $28 on Friday and Saturday; cnyplayhouse.org; 315-885-8960.
