Special to The Aspen Times
Kalonjee Gallimore catches big air in front of the cast of Theatre Aspen s Rock of Ages during a rehearsal for the 1980s jukebox musical.
Timothy Bates Photography/Courtesy photo IF YOU GO …
Where: Hurst Theatre, Rio Grande Park
When: Through Aug. 21
Tickets: theatreaspen.org
Jukebox musicals such as “Rock of Ages,” now running at Theatre Aspen through Aug. 21, rely heavily on audience participation for their success. Character, plot and intricate lyrical score the fulcrum around which the traditional musical turns is simply not the point. Nostalgia, rather, is. The audience’s collective memory of a different time and place, a youthful, often more innocent-seeming period is the glue that holds the jukebox musical together. Familiarity trumps originality every time.