Rock of Ages to play Australian season

Rodney Rigby will produce an Australian production of the hit Broadway musical Rock Of Ages.

It was announced on Monday that Melbourne would host the premiere, with the show to open at the Comedy Theatre in April 2011.

Rock Of Ages is a hilarious, feel-good love story told through the hit songs such as ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, ‘The Final Countdown’, ‘We Built This City’ and ‘More Than Words’ by iconic rockers such as Bon Jovi, Foreigner, Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Poison, Starship, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, and many more.

Set in 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small-town girl meets a big-city dreamer – and in L.A.’s most legendary rock club, they fall in love to the greatest songs of the ‘80s. It’s an awesomely good time where big hair meets big dreams in a Rock ‘n’ Roll comedy romance.

Following an extremely successful Off Broadway run in October 2008 and a bidding war over the film rights in which New Line Cinema won, Rock Of Ages transferred to Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theatre in April 2009 to critical acclaim and continued audience adoration.

Rock Of Ages was nominated for Five 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Musical, and Best Sound Design for a Musical.

New Line Records released the Original Broadway Cast Recording digitally on June 2 2009; it features 28 songs from the show.

Rock Of Ages opens in Toronto in April 2010, The US National Tour in September 2010, London in October 2010, thereafter it will open in Las Vegas, Scandinavia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Japan and Korea.

The production sees yet another partnership with the Victorian State Government, a major reason Melbourne has become the city that musicals base their premiere seasons.

Whilst the show is hardly known in Australia, its music will be a key element in getting audiences in, and producers plan to launch a massive marketing campaign over the next 12 months to ensure local audiences want to see the show.

Auditions are expected to be held later in the year, and tickets will go on sale before the end of 2010.