Is It Rock? Is It Classical? Forget Labels, It’s All Music

Songwriters

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The brainchild of recording artists Rob Evan and Randall Craig Fleischer, Rocktopia blends iconic rock and classical compositions such as Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” with Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 – Allegretto”. A rotating roster of big-name guest stars including Pat Monahan from Train and Robin Zander from Cheap Trick; five vocalists; a symphony orchestra; a rock band; and a choir perform the genre-busting numbers with a singleness of purpose. “The mission is to open people’s ears a little bit to things they haven’t heard before and point out that it’s one world,” says Aronson. “There are a lot of common threads.”

Bruno concurs. “On certain songs, when I have to play some of the classical lines, it feels no different than playing an Aerosmith song,” he says. “It’s like this is a cool line and you want to dig into it. Similarities are being exposed.”

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Those similarities became especially apparently as Bruno, who serves as musical director, contemplated what material to add for Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, who guest stars from April 9 to 15. A YouTube search for heavy metal songs derived from classical pieces brought up more than 300 results!

That’s a lot to choose from, and proves that the concept offers myriad possibilities for mash-ups. It’s also why Bruno believes it’s so important to have veterans from both genres collaborating on the show, like operatic soprano Alyson Cambridge wailing alongside The Voice finalist Kimberly Nichole. “Alyson brings this whole other aura to it that makes us all rise to the occasion,” says Bruno. “And there are moments of it that are complete rock, especially when Kimberly is singing.”

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TDF MEMBERS: At press time, discount tickets were available for Rocktopia. Go here to browse our current offers.

Linda Buchwald tweets about theatre at @PataphysicalSci. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.

Top image: Tony Vincent and Tony Bruno in Rocktopia. Photos by Matthew Murphy.

tweets about theatre at @PataphysicalSci. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.