Looking for a deeply serious night of thought-provoking theatre? Well, better head to some place other than D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre this month because there it’s all ‘80s rock as the 2022-23 season kicks off with lots of music and even more sequins and spandex.

Rock of Ages had a Los Angeles and off-Broadway run before arriving on the Great White Way in 2009. While nominated for a handful of Tony Awards, it didn’t earn any. Nothing wrong with that: the distinguishing factor in this production is the fun familiarity of the music – all juke box favorites – from icons of ‘80s glam-rock and hair bands.

Kavinoky’s Rock of Ages production is extra fun because – from the get go – seeing a full-out rock band on stage between lots of lights and a neon 97 Rock logo in that gorgeous Edwardian setting is visually startling in a fine way. As the lights go down, the mood is set with 97 Rock’s Carl Russo welcoming you and reminding you to silence your cell phones (‘don’t be douchebag,” he growls). I love it and of course, I double checked my phones.

Then the band kicks in, promising “Nothin’ But a Good  Time” as you “Cum on Feel the Noize.” The thin plot reveals itself pretty quickly, and trust me,  you’ve seen it all before: “Just a small town girl” arrives in LA, suitcase in hand, ready to be an actress. Of course her name is Sherrie, a great set up for some reiterations of “Oh, Sherrie.” (OK, if this was the ‘70s, it would have been Springsteen’s “Sherry Darling,” but I digress.) She meets Drew, an aspiring rocker, who helps her land her waitress gig at the Bourbon Room, a legendary LA music club. Little do they know that a foreign developer wants to level the neighborhood for more modern stores and high rise, and that the LA mayor is seeing dollars signs, and that a hippie chick city planner will go rogue and stage a protest and that a veteran rocker will come between our two rising stars. Yup, it’s a familiar story, or you might say “Here I Go Again.”

In between the tunes you loved when you hair was well sprayed, your clothes were sherbet colored and the plotline you’ve see a bunch of times, this production has an all-star cast of local actors singing like you’ve never heard them before. Seriously, the absolute best part of this production is seeing the actors reaching way out of their usual wheelhouses. Director/choreographer Lynne Kurdziel Formato must have had an absolute blast with this cast.

Dan Urtz is Lonny. the Bourbon Room lackey and the show’s sardonic narrator: he breaks the ‘fourth wall’ to share witty asides to  the audience to keep it all unreally real. Urtz’s breadth as an actor – from Satan-possessed puppeteer in Road Less Traveled Productions’ Hand of God in 2020 to last season’s Cliff in Second Generation Theatre’s Cabaret – is already well-established. This role takes him to new places: totally loveable goofball house-tech guy.

Then there’s Ricky Needham, fresh from MusicalFare’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, as aspiring rocker Drew, hittin’ the high notes like nobody’s business.

Bethany Burrows, the winsome mermaid from Second Gen’s Big Fish a few seasons ago, is Sherrie, this show’s version of the ingenue/waitress/Drew’s love interest and she’s a charmer.

What floored me was seeing Anthony Alcocer as Stacee Jax, the rockstar starting his downward spiral. He’s leaving the band that made him a heartthrob and Alcocer brings a real swagger here.  He sings, he growls, he can’t remember names, he’s a riot.

Arin Lee Dandes (last seen at the Kav in Indecent) is Regina the Berkley-educated city planner who plans to protect the City Built on Rock ‘n’ Roll from destruction-by-chain store. Her flouncy gauze skirts and au natural hair are the perfect contrasts against the glitz and glam of the nightclub set.

Loraine O’Donnell and Gregory Gjurich are the adults in the room, first as Sherrie’s parents and then as Justice and Hertz respectively. O’Donnell’s rich voice is perfect for these tunes and times. Gjurich is the quintessential comic actor with the dead-on perfect German accent as the bad-guy developer. His son Frantz is played by Jamil Kassem-Lopez to comic perfection. (Wardrobe note: if you’re doing the double Polo shirt thing, the inner collar needs to be popped. Trust me, it’s an ’80s thing. I have pictures.)

Christopher Guilmet (loved him a few seasons ago in the Kav’s Bridges of Madison County) is Dennis, owner of the Bourbon Room and maker of rock stars and memories.

Finally, Lorenzo Shawn Parnell is the money-grubbing mayor, a buxom reporter (I swear I didn’t know it was him), and a boy-band promoter, changing persona as easily as sliding off a pair of jelly sandals.

There’s a great ensemble on stage, too, along with a mighty band led by Allan Paglia. Lots went into the production, too, with Dyan Burlingame’s set, video on three screens by Nick Taboni, lighting by Brian Cavanagh, Andrea Letcher’s dead-on costumes, and Mary McMahon’s hair and makeup. It was full-on immersion and it was fine. I felt 25 all over again.

Admittedly, it’s not my favorite genre, but Rock of Ages is just so much fun, I wondered why the audience wasn’t on its feet and dancing along with the final number. I couldn’t wait to get home and crimp my side ponytail one last time.

Grab your ‘80s boyfriend (sadly, mine was unavailable) and see Rock of Ages. It’s just what we need to release and relax. Rock of Ages runs a full two hours with a 15-intermission. Face masks are required in the theatre-proper where it is sadly still COVID year three 2022. The show runs to September 25. Book your tickets at kavinokytheatre.com, a totally rad website. No $hit.