Theatre Review: Rock & Roll Heaven

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Rock & Roll Heaven

Theater 68, Hollywood
thru August 27

Book, Music, Lyrics: Jason Mershon
Directed by Jason Mershon

The premise for the musical "Rock And Roll Heaven" is pretty simple: what happens when hedonistic musicians (Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morisson, John Lennon, Janis Joplin et al, and rather inexplicably, Judy Garland) end up in heaven? It seemed likely to impress me when I first heard about it- me, whose first love was musical theater, and whose second love was rock ’n roll. Unfortunately, I was largely disappointed, as the script and the execution failed to deliver on the promise of the premise

Now to be fair, I had high expectations going into this show as I assumed that professional theater in LA would be of a similar caliber to professional theater in New York- which is where I have had the majority of my theater-viewing experience. Perhaps that is why my surprise at the amateurish quality of the production was so intense.

Everything struck me as rather juvenile, from the lighting scheme (I use the word scheme rather lightly) to the costumes (which all looked like they’d been purchased at the Halloween Warehouse- though I did appreciate Satan’s red converse sneakers) to, the quality of the performances.

I was especially disappointed in the script. Though I did appreciate the running (and accurate!) gag about how all the best Beatles songs are actually McCartney's (resulting in a very frustrated and at times rather funny John Lennon, as played by Jose Sinatra), most of the dialogue was rather uninspired, and while the choice of characters was inteteresting, there was no character development and the play never attempted to give any insight into the musicians portrayed.

I wondered why this was written as a musical- none of the songs really added very much to the plot, or revealed anything about the characters. I even found myself wondering at one point if the songwriter just stuck a bunch of words together when writing the songs, because some of them (notably the song "Yesterdays") sounded like gibberish to me. I suspect this is because the music, lyrics and book were all written by James Mershon, who also served as the producer and director. With only one person wearing all those hats there is nobody to lend fresh eyes and point out weaknesses in the production. I think this is the main reason the show founders.

Most of the actors seemed to be having a good time, carried along by the show's playfully cheesetastic mood. Smokey Miles, who played Moses however, seemed to be working very hard and my friend who came with me to the show suggested that perhaps Mr. Miles really wanted to be playing the role of Mel Brooks. I was also rather perplexed by David E. Taylor's portrayal of Jim Morrison. Mr. Taylor seemed totally uninterested in being in the play. He only had one line, and I'm not sure if that's because the director cut the rest of his lines out after seeing how little effort Mr. Taylor put into his performance, or because the script was written that way. In either case, the role of Jim Morrison, even sans lines is one that a devoted and talented actor could have really stolen the show with. Morrison was famous for his posturing and his sinister charisma. Mr. Taylor put absolutely no effort into capturing any of these qualities. Perhaps a more adept director could have pried a better performance out of him. I'm really not sure.

I am pleased however to say, that there are several redeeming aspects of the show. It is worth noting that the set design was really effective and rather charming. I was also extremely impressed with Alex Spencer's performance as Judy Garland. In addition to doing a near perfect job imitating Ms. Garland, she demonstrated an abundance of talent all her own. She has a lovely voice and most impressively, an arresting stage presence. Even her bow at the end of the show was executed with poise. She will, I'm sure, shine in many more productions. Allison Lynn Kramer does a good job as Janis Joplin as well. Her own voice is good enough so that people aren't disappointed that she doesn't sing like Janis. Karen McClain as the Burning Bush and John Moschitta Jr as Satan, are entertaining and navigate the murky waters of this production without breaking much of a sweat. Ms. McClain especially, has a passionate and credible voice.