Rockin’ at South Davie: Musical this week

Published 9:01 pm Tuesday, May 17, 2022

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It’s time for some rock n’ roll at South Davie Middle School with “Rock of Ages: Middle School Edition,” South Davie’s Spring Musical.

Performances are Thursday, May 19 and Friday, May 20 at 6 p.m. in the South Davie Middle School Theatre. Tickets are $10 at the door.

It’s the tail end of the big, bad 1980s in Hollywood, and the party has been raging hard.

Aqua Net, Lycra and Heavy Metal flow freely at one of the Sunset Strip’s last legendary venues The Dupree Room, owned by Denise Dupree, played by Sahara Dalton. The Dupree Room is a place where legendary rocker Stacee Jaxx, played by A.J. Imes, takes the stage and groupies line up for their chance at an autograph.

Amidst the madness, aspiring rock star (and resident toilet cleaner) Drew Boley, played by Jaxon Britton, longs to take the stage as the next big thing and longs for small-town girl Sherri, played by Skylar Dwiggins, fresh off the bus from Kansas with stars in her eyes.

However, the rock ‘n’ roll fairy tale is about to end when German developers Hilda Klinemann, played by Ami Zamora-Suastegui and her son Franz, played by Roman Christenson, 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 hit bands Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and more can hold the answer.

Rock of Ages: Middle 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.

Rock of Ages opened on Broadway on April 7, 2009 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it played for 2,328 performances. At the time of its closing, Rock of Ages was the 29th longest-running show in Broadway history.

This musical is an adaptation for middle school by Chris D’Arienzo, creator of the long-running Broadway show “Rock of Ages.” The rock anthems were adjusted for middle school voices and some of the subject matter was changed to be more age appropriate.