Rock Of Ages

Honestly, I don’t have a ton to say about the process of this show except that I love this dang show. I think Rock of Ages at the Mercury was a culmination of years of learning how to do musicals on a very small budget. Rock musicals, necessarily, are huge, and this one is no exception. We also had a band on stage, which, besides becoming a signature of mine, adds to the challenge of designing a clean-sounding musical while still maintaining the rock energy needed for this show. My first experience with this show was mixing it, and when I got the opportunity to design it, it was an easy ‘YES’. Tommy quickly became one of my favorite directors and was always willing to hear my thoughts about optimizing the jokes. Tommy also helped me remember that perfect jokes don’t always just happen; they take time and lots of workshopping. Tommy often used the phrase “let’s do some science on this” when we weren’t sure about a moment, meaning: We have a draft, let’s put it in front of an audience and see what works. This process really solidified for me that, to my surprise, I’m actually very good at comedy in theatre.