Credit: Tyler CurtisHe’s appeared in the Broadway hit Rock of Ages in the past, but this week, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider returns to New York’s Great White Way, as the guest performer in Rocktopia, a show that fuses rock and classical music.
During his stint with the show, from tonight through April 15, Snider will sing Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith songs that have been mashed up with classical pieces by Beethoven, Puccini and Berlioz. He’ll also perform the Twisted Sister hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It” as a mash-up with a Strauss piece. Snider will be joined by a 30-person choir, a 20-piece orchestra and a rock band.
“I get what they are doing…I’ve said that if Bach or Beethoven were alive today, they would be in a metal band!” Snider tells ABC Radio. He says he wasn’t surprised that Rocktopia co-creator Rob Evan, who also performs in the show, invited him to take part in it.
Snider is taking over the guest performer role from Train‘s Pat Monahan, who appeared in Rocktopia during the show’s first few weeks. The critics haven’t been kind to the show, but Snider insists that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
“When a critic says something like, ‘Pat Monahan had a whiny voice,’ [they] clearly do not understand rock singing,” Snider says.
Evan adds, “Every single night, we get an amazing reaction…And to have someone like Dee come on board…is an affirmation for me and my vision.”
Meanwhile, Snider’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” has been in the news lately as a rallying cry for teachers protesting for better wages. Snider says, “I applaud it. This song has become a folk song. And it’s come to stand for whatever people are upset about and fighting against.”
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