Whitesnake. Def Leppard. Pat Benatar. Journey. The next production at the Barn Theatre is the "mixtape musical" Rock of Ages, which ties together glam-band hits of the 1980s in a familiar story in which a group of misfits tries to keep their favorite hangout from closing down. It opens Aug 9 and will run through Aug 21.
Actor Robert Newman, who has played countless roles at The Barn — from the title role in Sweeney Todd to Edna Turnblad in Hairspray — plays the Bourbon Room's owner Dennis Dupree. Newman is one of the performers who helped build the national reputation of the Barn Theatre as a proven training ground for well-rounded actors.
In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, he says he still loves the fact that he gets to "play pretend" for a living, and that his apprenticeship at The Barn was a life-changing opportunity for him in the early 1980s. That decade shaped the direction of his life professionally and personally: he married his wife, became a father, and began his long run as Joshua Lewis on Guiding Light. As Dennis Dupree in Rock of Ages, he's had to find his "rock voice," a stylistic switch from his training as a classic baritone.