Tom Cruise Goes Broadway! Corner Store Hopes for a Payday on ‘Rock of Ages’

Daniel D'Addario — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:31:10 -0400

Tom Cruise must miss the 1980s. The star, who spent the decade playing straitlaced prep types, is in talks with New Line Cinema to star in the hair-metal Broadway adaptation Rock of Ages--which features the music of Bon Jovi and Poison, among others. Cruise is to play Stacee Jaxx (a far cry from Jerry Maguire!), a rock star who sets the plot's action into motion, according to this Times review from the show's opening, which called the character "bleach-brained." Perhaps this will be in the vein of Cruise's stardom-skewering Tropic Thunder cameo--either way, it'll be good to see him play a superstar!

Both play and movie are produced by Corner Store Entertainment, a fledgling in the world of film but a company which has, despite tepid reviews, kept the show running for nearly two years. During the week of January 9, the show played to 97.1 percent of the house (more recent results were not available). It's unclear whether stage stars will cross over to the screen--representatives of the star most commonly identified with the show in the public's mind, American Idol's Constantine Maroulis, were unavailable for comment. But if Cruise's casting, and history, are guide, Corner Store Entertainment is seeking starry capitalization on a property people are already familiar with, if not from theatergoing then from classic-rock radio. Maybe, as the show was sold to New Line in 2008, before it ever hit Broadway, this was the goal all along!

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Observer » Tom Cruise Goes Broadway! Corner Store Hopes for a Payday on ‘Rock of Ages’

Tom Cruise Goes Broadway! Corner Store Hopes for a Payday on ‘Rock of Ages’