'Rock of Ages' revels in its '80s excess

As far as musical theater goes, “Rock of Ages” is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

And just so that's clear, the narrator introduces the show — here through Sunday at Chicago's Oriental Theatre — as a “night of musical debauchery and decadence.”

“Rock of Ages” delivers on that decadence — with heavy doses of sex, drugs and 1980s rock 'n' roll. To appreciate it, set aside any notions of what musical theater should be and tap into your inner adolescent. You know, the kid who rocked to REO Speedwagon, slow-danced to Styx and never, ever stopped believin'.

It helps if you are, like me, old enough that “Rock of Ages” feels very much like the soundtrack to your youth. Nostalgia has never been louder.

The story, such as it is, centers on Drew (Dominique Scott), a long-haired wannabe rocker from Detroit. He cleans up at the Bourbon Club on Hollywood's Sunset Strip in 1987 and dreams of making it big. Sherrie (Shannon Mullen), meanwhile, shows up with her own dreams of being an actress. She is — cue the Journey — “just a small-town girl, livin' in a lonely world.” And she's about to turn Drew's world upside-down.

But before the sweet rocker can woo Sherrie with Foreigner and a four-pack of wine coolers, she turns to sleazy Stacee Jaxx (Matt Nolan), a hard-drinking, Spandex-clad rock star who tosses her aside after a romp in the restroom and a few choruses of “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

Meanwhile, a German developer and his son set out to clean up L.A. and replace the strip clubs with strip malls. That can't happen, of course. But it does create a way to wedge in “We Built This City,” recently ranked by Rolling Stone readers as the worst song of its time.

The save-the-strip plotline is a weary, overused distraction, and the incredibly annoying Regina (Katie Postonik), a mousy, screechy-voiced protester, seems to exist only so she can belt out “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”

To make anything this over-the-top work, you have to have a cast committed to the chaos and shamelessly flaunting the excess of the era. At first on opening night, I didn't see that. But as the songs kept coming, and the audience fed off the frenzy, the ensemble picked up the pace. And throughout, the on-stage band delivered.

Scott and Mullen have both the sense of sweetness and the sexual energy necessary to pull off their parts. Adding heavy doses of irreverence is Justin Colombo as Lonny, a sound man with a mullet and a wardrobe of offensive T-shirts. His second-act duet with pot-smoking pal Dennis (Matt Ban) is a highlight.

Thought-provoking theater it's not. But for those who remember the '80s, “Rock of Ages” is frothy fun — a wild trip back through the decades to a time when hair was long, skirts were short and a mix tape was the ultimate way to say “I Love You.”