‘Rock’ reaction sealed the deal

ORLANDO, Fla. – Whatever doubts Adam Shankman – one of Hollywood’s “go-to” guys for musicals, thanks to “Hairspray” – had about tackling the all-star, all-“hair metal”-hits jukebox musical “Rock of Ages” disappeared the minute he sat in a theater and watched it on stage.

“The audience’s reaction was nothing short of rabid,” he said. “That sort of enthusiasm for the music, the energy and the fun – I had to try and be a part of that.”

Shankman, 47, describes the show’s 1980s metal anthems and ballads by Journey, Def Leppard, Pat Benatar and others as “the soundtrack of my life. In the ’80s (the movie is set in 1987), like a lot of people, I watched more MTV than I listened to the radio. This music was so pervasive, that even if you were into Madonna or Janet Jackson, you were exposed to it constantly because in between Madonna and Janet Jackson videos, it was always Van Halen and Twisted Sister and Whitesnake.”

Shankman was a dancer and choreographer back then, but even “a now-aging chorus boy” into Madonna, like Shankman, got an overdose of babes in spandex or hot pants or bikinis shaking their moneymakers in videos of the day. It was a vibe, however sexist and retro, he’d have to recreate for “Rock of Ages,” which assembled assorted hits by Foreigner, Styx, Bon Jovi and Poison around a story of young love and a glam-rock era brought to an end by rap, grunge and changing tastes.

“Women are stronger than ever, now,” Shankman said. “But if you’re depicting the period, you can’t ignore the scene, the music videos of the time, that super-hot women in very little clothing were hanging all over rock stars with great big hair. ‘Rock of Ages’ is really depicting a world and a time. That’s how women came off, back then. But I think the women come out on top, this time, in this movie. Sherrie (aka “Sister Christian,” the heroine, played by Julianne Hough) is a winner; even Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character (a politician’s wife out to “clean up” music and L.A.’s Sunset Strip) rediscovers herself.”

Shankman also had the daunting task of showcasing Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin and Malin Akerman as singers. He had an A-list cast, but only Oscar winner Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”) and singing/ dancing actress Hough (“Footloose”) were known for their musical chops.

“It’s good and it’s bad that I have this weighty cast,” Shankman said, chuckling. “They are the curiosity that’ll draw people …

“But the person who most surprised me, at the end of the day, was Tom Cruise. We’d been talking about him starring (as burnt-out rocker Stacee Jaxx) and building up to start the movie for a year. By the time we got there, I knew that vocally, he was going to be good. It wasn’t until I cut his performance together that I saw how brilliant he was. There’s a little Jim Morrison in him – this self-proclaimed ‘poet.’ Stacee has this weird quiet genius about him, like a lot of rock stars who only knew how to live onstage. But offstage, he’s a mess. Tom nailed it.”

As a rule, jukebox musicals – “Mamma Mia!” and “The Jersey Boys” are two other examples – don’t win praise on the stage for their patchwork plots. And coming to the big screen, “Rock of Ages” isn’t finding a lot of that kitschy “Mamma Mia!” love from critics.

“(Shankman) succeeds in draining most of the fun from a vehicle that was all about the winking humor of its flagrant cheesiness,” The Hollywood Reporter complained.

But Shankman is unbowed.

“It’s a party, that’s all it is,” he said. “I want people singing in the aisles. I want people dancing, pulling their seats up and throwing them at the screen. You know, like a real ’80s rock show.”