Are You Ready to Rock?

A few weeks ago we went to see Rock of Ages, the musical.  This was the second part of a groupon a couple friends and I had bought (the first part was Next to Normal, here).  I was pretty excited for this show, my parents and sister had seen it in New York and loved it, and all the music sounded fun (all 80s rock).  Headlining the tour was Constantine Maroulis, American Idol reject and star of the original Broadway production.  This was also exciting because he seemed to be a perfect fit for the show.

Sadly, the musical didn't live up to my expectations and the whole group I went with felt the same way (we are a bunch of theater junkies, we have good taste).  The music was fun and loud, but it was very hard to understand the lyrics.  The storyline was kinda blah and felt forced to fit the music.  It just didn't seem like a real musical, which I guess it isn't, really it's more of a musical revue.  Anyway, the singers/actors/dancers were great but the musical itself left much to be desired.  Maybe it would've been more fun if we had dressed up like the guy who turned around to the whole balcony and yelled "Are you ready to rock?" and then stood up to sing and dance to the songs, maybe next time!

Grand Lake

The wonderfulness of the Grand Lake Theater includes a very close neighborhood theater, an organ performance before some movies, and their sly political statements on the marquee.  A true Oakland gem!