IN case of fire, please refrain from singing Def Leppard's Pyromania because we couldn't get the rights to any of their music.

If that pre-show announcement makes you chuckle, then the frankly daft musical Rock Of Ages will do likewise as it glories in the excesses of 1980s' poodle rock: We Built This City, Here I Go Again, The Final Countdown, Don't Stop Believin'; you know the guilty pleasure type. American AOR radio hits in extremis, piled high to accompany the tongue-in-cheek tale of one rock demigod Stacee Jaxx, whose ego has outgrown his band Arsenal.

Stacee (Harrogate actor Richard Upton, suitably outrageous in his York Stage Musicals debut) is giving them the kiss-off with one last basement gig at the Bourbon Room, a Los Angeles joint on Sunset Strip, run by the laissez-faire dude Dennis Dupree (Mikhail Lim, highly amusing), but under threat of closure from joyless German developer Hertz Klinemann (BBC Radio York afternoon presenter Adam Tomlinson as you have never seen before, in a double act with his son Benedict as rebellious son Franz).

That is but one storyline in Chris D'Arienso's Broadway jukebox musical, whose path is steered in somewhat pell-mell fashion by Christopher Knight's soul brother Lonny Bartlet. As narrator cum "dramatic conjuror", he guides both cast and audience with the meddling glee of a Puck, introducing and debunking characters and breaking down theatre's fourth wall. He even clasps the programme at one point, reminding Conor Mellor he's in a show called Rock Of Ages. Such a moment is called "metatheatre" these days and is testament to Rock Of Ages hiding its smartness behind dumb-ass bravado.

YSM regular Mellor, whose stepdad introduced him to the car-journey joys of Journey, Styx, Whitesnake et al, revels in playing wannabe rock star/songwriter Wolfgang/Bourbon Room loo cleaner Drew Boley. Boy, he can sing, but will his personable but never assertive Drew ever have a matching confidence in his pursuit of Lauren Sheriston's Sherrie Christian, a naive wannabe "actress" newly moved to LA to chase the Hollywood dream, but who ends up in a cubicle with Stacee and a job as a stripper? Sheriston is a knock-out as ever, spectacular singing voice to the fore, and just the right combination of hard exterior and soft centre.

Alicia Roberts's no-nonsense Save The Strip campaigner Regina Koontz, Maya Bartley O'Dea's Waitress #1 and Jess Gardham's strip-club madame Justice Charlier are in good form too, as are the rocktastic ensemble and musical director Stephen Hackshaw's band with Damien Sweeting and Henry Bird loving the guitar limelight.

Nik Briggs directs with flair, cheek and a huge dollop of fun, his cast clearly savouring every moment, matched by the hot choreography of Jessica Hardcastle that shows off the ensemble to best effect, hands aloft, in Here I Go Again and Don't Stop Believin'.

Rock Of Ages, York Stage Musicals, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york