From first (David Lee Roth’s “Just Like Paradise’’) to last (Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ’’), “Rock of Ages’’ fills the stage with a riot of sound that threatens at times to burst the venerable walls of the Colonial. The show even contains a reference to Betty White, which, as you know, is mandatory this year.
As it travels its merry path — part affectionate homage to ’80s rock and recognition of the place it occupies in its fans’ hearts, part “This is Spinal Tap’’-style satire of its macho, oversexed preening — “Rock of Ages’’ deliberately leaves no showbiz cliché unturned.
At the center of the action is Drew (though he would prefer that you call him Wolfgang von Colt). Though at the moment (described as “the mid- to late-’80s’’) he is making ends meet by toiling in a Sunset Strip club called the Bourbon Room, Drew is an idealistic young striver who dares to dream big dreams of rock ’n’ roll fame.
Constantine Maroulis reprises the role of Drew, which earned him a Tony nomination when he played it on Broadway. It’s not hard to see why. Maroulis, a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and a former finalist on “American Idol,’’ invests Drew with an endearingly abashed, puppy-dog quality, then shifts gears when he lets loose with a killer voice on Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You’’ and Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie.’’
The Sherrie in question is a small-town girl from Kansas (played by Rebecca Faulkenberry in a powerhouse performance) with whom Drew is instantly smitten. Sherrie has come to the big city with stars in her eyes and ambition in her heart for an acting career, but she ends up working in a strip joint, a reluctant career move that Faulkenberry underscores with a poignant rendition of “Harden My Heart.’’
