The King of Friday Night

Variety- Wednesday, May 1, 1985

John Gray’s sucessful stage play “Rock And Roll,” a memoir about a rock band in small-town Nova Scotiain the early ‘60s, makes an inspired leap to tv as “The King Of Friday Night” in an inventive rock video-drama pastiche. It combines topnotch video effects with a funny, bittersweet storyline that acutely evokes the era.

The semi-autobiographic jaunt (based on Gray’s own stint in a ‘60s rock band0 opens with the individual members of The Monarchs returning to a legion hall in Mushaboom, Nova Scotia, for a 15-year rock reunion. For some of the members, being in the band was the best thing that ever happened to them.

Cut to 1961 and we meet the band and its various incarnations, from three kids screeching in an empty room- Chink (Geoffrey Bowes), Brent (Andrew Rhodes) and Manny (Alec Willows) – to the recruitment of the fat kid Parker (Frank Mackay) to sing lead. Poppingin and out is the figure of Screamin’ John (Eric Peterson), the local roughneck whose ma life in the fast lane is crapped off in a fatal car crash, but he takes on mythic proportions as the spirit of rock n’ roll which inspires the group.

Each Character’s interior monologs are presented rock-video style. Screamin’ John lectures the boys on the rudiments of life and warns them about the dangers of becoming boring in “Play A Little Rock ‘N’ Roll.” In her video “The Boy’s Club,” Brent’s girlfriend Shirley laments the chauvinism in the band and refuses to let her sing. Parker bemoans his tubby plight in “The Fat Boy.” The group becomes incredibly successful from 1961-65 in a panorama of their triumphs from church basement to big arena in “The King Of Friday Night.”

And throughout reminiscences of painful first kisses, social awkwardness, fear of parental authority and general drunken brawls are presented in flashy video style.

Gray’s scripts and lyrics are alternately full of wisecracks and insights, spoken by highly original characters who never sink in to sentimentality. The songs are smart and sassy, and British co-director Andrew Gisling, who’s had vast experience in multicolou chromakey, presents them in brio.

The cast is firstrate, especially Eric Peterson as the all-knowing, maniacal Screamin’ John and frank MacKay, who brings depth and great vocals to Parker. Alex Willows is the comic foil as rich, nerdy Manny, and Andrew Rhodes brings a sobering quality to Brent, who winds up as an insurance adjuster. “The King Of Friday Night” is a winner all around. – Devo.

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