Chelsea Morgan is drawn to directing “huge, exciting, dance-heavy musicals with a large cast.” The jukebox musical “Rock of Ages” checks all those boxes for Morgan and her husband, Adam.
Last summer, they directed “The Wedding Singer” at Academy Players in Providence. “I knew I wanted to do something with those same qualities this summer,” Morgan said recently. “I always see summer as an opportunity to go big and work with relatively upbeat scores and plots.”
“Rock of Ages” stitches together 1980s rock classics around a plot about urban development using eminent domain to demolish a rock club. The show features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Europe, and more.
“There are so many songs in this show,” said Morgan, “so that means a lot of dances to create as well.” Morgan has an assistant choreographer, Vanessa Sciolto. “I lean on her so much for suggestions, collaboration, and to also help assist cast members who need it while I move on to other things.”
“With a cast this size,” said Sciolto, “you have to make smart choices.” She and Morgan split the dancers into groups. “We were able to have more real estate and more space for dancers to shine.”
Morgan decided to “split my dance ensemble up into three different groups. City Dancers, Bourbon Dancers, and Venus Dancers. Each group learns and performs the choreo for the scenes and songs happening in each of those three settings. This way, not everyone is on stage at the same time and not everyone is learning every dance. It has worked so well that I now swear by it.”
Sciolto is also one of the show’s dancers. “I’m in quite a few (dances). It does add a layer of difficulty, because I have to learn all the choreography. I am a learn-by-experience dancer, so if I’m not running something every week, it doesn’t become second nature to me.”
One of the show’s main characters is Stacee Jaxx, the lead singer of a group called Arsenal. Traditionally, the role is played by a man, but in Academy’s production, Stacee is played by a woman, Christina Campos. “We saw so many brilliant auditions (for Stacee),” said Morgan. “We could have cast the role four different ways and with that would have come four unique end results. But Christina stood out in many ways. After auditions and callbacks, we knew she was the answer.”
Campos will be playing the role as a man. “I’ve played an octopus so honestly, playing a man seemed like the obvious next step,” Campos said with a laugh. In Academy’s production of “The Little Mermaid,” Campos played Ursula, a giant purple octopus. “The biggest challenge isn’t playing a man but playing a male character that is so misogynistic and honestly kind of icky without coming off as offensive to anyone.”
Basically, Campos says, “I’m making fun of machismo men while playing one. Very drag king vibes.”
Campos’s husband Brenner is also in the show, playing Drew, another of the main characters. “This is our fourth show together at Academy. We get to help each other run lines and songs at home. I just wish he’d stop stealing my full-length mirror to practice dance moves in our kitchen.”
Brianna Geyer is the stage manager for the show. “The biggest challenge is the large cast,” she said. There are 51 players in the show, not counting the six members of the band. “There’s a lot of intricate movements and blocking to keep track of. It’s hard not to get sucked into the show and actually pay attention to what I’m supposed to be doing, like playing the right (musical) track or taking notes for Chelsea.”
This show is a little racier than most Academy productions. “We are going full out and putting warnings both on-line and in-person that the show is comparable to an R-rating,” said Morgan. “We worked very closely with an intimacy coordinator and made sure we were doing everything within each cast member’s individual boundaries. I also let everyone pick their own costumes, so you’ll see a range from tame to risqué.”
“Rock of Ages” runs August 13 through August 23 at Academy Players of Rhode Island in Providence. For tickets and more information, visit www.academyplayersri.org.
