Charles Isherwood, NY Times, writes about ‘Rock of Ages’

NY Times photo by Joan Marcus

When Rock of Ages opened back in April, 09, it received a very good review from the New York Times critic Charles Isherwood.  In today’s edition of the Times, Mr. Isherwood has written again about the show and it is quite a nice review.  The article is the story of his taking in a “double feature” day of theater where he first saw South Pacific and then that evening went to Rock of Ages.   Here is how he begins:

From Rodgers and Hammerstein to Bon Jovi and Whitesnake in a single day: the surrealism of it tickled. And while Broadway traditionalists might use the occasion to illustrate and deplore the precipitous decline of the musical, you’ll get no such argument from me. Granted, “Rock of Ages” is, um, no “South Pacific.” But if the colonization of Broadway by pop songbooks of varying vintages and qualities has hardly been a phenomenon wholly worthy of celebration, there are pleasures to be had, and “Rock of Ages” is definitely one of them.

Amongst his comments about ROA, he says this about Constantine:

Constantine Maroulis, the “American Idol” competitor with lungs of steel, has proved himself to be a winning, sweet-spirited and completely natural actor in the lead role of Drew, negotiating the bridge between sincerity and spoof with breezy amiability.

“Lungs of steel” – wow – good way to describe that powerhouse voice.

Read the entire article online at the New York Times website.  Be sure to go to p. 2 to read the complete review of Rock of Ages.