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'The Heart of Rock and Roll' review: Huey Lewis' Broadway show is... NYPOST.COM There’s rock and rolling in the aisles. JOHNNY OLEKSINSKI Here’s something I never imagined writing five years ago: In 2024, there are no musicals by Andrew Lloyd Webber currently running on Broadway, but there are somehow two that feature the songs of Huey Lewis & The News. Even more surprising is that one of those shows, “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” which opened Monday night at the James Earl Jones Theatre, has turned out to be an underdog highlight of the season. (The other, “Back to the Future: The Musical,” did not.) Rolled out modestly, little “Heart” is also a lot more fun and proudly frivolous than any of its sober-minded neighbors. It’s perhaps the first time in my life that I’ve been happy to see a confetti cannon at curtain call. The show is hilarious, too. Set in 1987, the musical is not only a brightly-colored time machine back to the decade of big hair and boomboxes, but the lighthearted Times Square of not so long ago. Lewis’ catchy hits like “Back In Time,” “The Power of Love” and “Hip To Be Square” are paired with book-writer Jonathan A. Abrams’ winning jokes about human resources and IKEA. There’s rock and rolling in the aisles. I don’t mean this as a slight, but Abrams’ man-with-a-plan tale could be ripped from a lovably bad 1980s movie such as “The Secret of My Success” or “Road House.” Actually, as Bobby, a Milwaukee factory worker who’s trying to climb the corporate ladder, the dishy and talented Corey Cott is the spitting image of the latter film’s star Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing.” Bobby’s workin’ for a livin’ at a cardboard plant, run by Mr. Stone (John Dossett) and his daughter Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz), but he dreams of rising the ranks into a plum sales gig. After “Kinky Boots,” you would think there was no more cleverness to be mined from assembly-line shenanigans. Wrong! Choreographer Lorin Latarro has the cast perform a campy tap dance on a big piece of bubble wrap that’s “Anything Goes” meets the Monty Python coconuts. After Bobby goes rogue and fails at signing a big client, the boss gives him the ax. Determined to succeed regardless, he follows Stone and Cassandra to a conference in Chicago with friend and HR director Roz (Tamika Lawrence) to try one more time to win the account of a wacky Swedish furniture store founder named Fjord (Orville Mendoza). While staying at the Drake Hotel, a romance blooms with work-obsessed Cassandra, even though she’s also being chased by her preppy ex-boyfriend Tucker (Billy Harrison Tighe, a real smarm-er). And Bobby also starts to have the urge to rejoin his old rock band, The Loop. You see what I mean about the plot resembling (surely on purpose) wacky ‘80s movies? “The Heart of Rock and Roll” is practically “Cocktail.” Cranked-up antics ensue on Derek McLane’s set that begins as Super Mario Bros.-style pipes of the factory, then whooshes to bubblegum plush settees at the hoity-toity Drake and finally a concert venue. This Wonka-fied vision of a workplace is populated by sensational dancers and singers, who fuse rock, pop and musical theater styles with ’80s informercial grins. But they sell the tunes with knockout comedy. There’s a Richard Simmons “Sweatin’ To The Oldies” parody, and a dream ballet for Cassandra about how horrifying it would be to marry her ex. Kurtz makes for a caffeinated version of Melanie Griffith in “Working Girl” — quirky, optimistic and appealingly awkward. And Lawrence, as irritated Roz, speaks fluent punchline. Playing the Swede, all Mendoza needs to do to get laughs is weirdly say sauna (“soooow-nuh!”). When most musicians hand over their catalogue to a Broadway show, it’s for a respectable biography like “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” or “Jersey Boys.”

Man suffering from possible OD rolled in chair from apartment and left to die in back of NYC pizzeria Hanging out in Staten Island... Two people were caught on camera pushing a man suffering from a possible overdose in a rolling office chair to the back of a Staten Island pizza shop, where he was found dead Sunday morning, law enforcement sources said. And while the duo returned a short time later, it was only to retrieve the chair as the man, 32, laid face up on the ground. Surveillance footage captured the depraved body dump around 2 a.m. on Sunday. The suspects were seen rolling the man from a nearby apartment to the pizza place just around the corner and placing him on the ground. A worker at the pizzeria found the body when she opened up the shop around 6:15 a.m.

Ex-school cop on the run after allegedly killing teacher ex-wife at her school, murdering girlfriend and abducting kid on day he was due in court for child rape Washington State Police have labeled Elias Huizar, 39, as “armed and dangerous” and fear he may commit more crimes. I'm guessing his resume says he excels at multi-tasking.

Is that anything like decoupage?

Photo of the Day: Green-Wood Cemetery.

Did you ever get your hearing checked just to make sure they weren't saying biggest? Did you ever get your hearing checked just to make sure they weren't saying are?

not to mention an almost crushing dose of modesty and humility!!! 😇😇😇

My position is that I am definitely for it. Do you really think there are gonna be people here that are against it?

Damn Joe Burrow is fine! Damn Joe Burrow is fine! Damn Joe Burrow is fine! Damn Joe Burrow is fine!

Forest Hills’ Geraldine Ferraro helped set the stage for Kamala Harris: Our Neighborhood, The Way it Was and my friend shopped at the same Key Food that she did, which has been a CVS for years... though I'm sure Geraldine would've gone to the Trader Joe's on Metropolitan Ave, two blocks away, had it existed back then.

They are also one of two teams playing in St Louis today starting W. Contreras at DH.

Como se dice AWWWWWWWWW? Spanish hospital enlists therapy dogs to boost ICU patients’ morale

Home team Mets outfielder wears Star of David on his belt in support of Israeli roots Harrison Bader got lots of love this week for his game-winning hit against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday — and for his sartorial support of Israel via a white Star of David on his waistband.

Third baseman Gio Urshela has been placed on the Tigers’ 10-day injured list, the team announced. Urshela is dealing with a right hamstring strain that forced him out of yesterday’s 5-4 win over the Twins in the second inning. wanna kiss it & make it better?

I knew there was a reason I didn't like you besides you not knowing that Murray Hill is a neighborhood in Queens.

His Boy Elroy. Daughter Judy. Jane his wife. To be fair, he said he has the body of a 38 year old, not that he looks 38.

Denver starts its quest to repeat as NBA champs on Sunday. Their forward, Michael Porter, Jr., has overcome 2 back surgeries to start for the champs; he signed a $172 million extension last year. All should be glorious for him right now. SHOULD... Earlier this week one of his brothers, a fringe player in the league, was banned from the league for a gambling kerfuffle. Today, another brother received a 6 year jail term for killing a woman after speeding through a red light while drunk. He was in college at the time.