It’s loud, funny, joyful and definitely a toe-tapping extravaganza which should not be missed.
School of Rock The Musical burst on to the stage at the Newcastle Theatre Royal last night with an appreciative audience giving the cast, including some fantastically-talented children, a standing ovation after a night of amazing performances.
Andrew LLoyd Webber’s wonderful and award-winning musical is based on the hit 2003 film starring Jack Black as rock star hopeful Dewey Finn who pretends to be a teacher at an elite prep school as he is strapped for cash and ends up transforming his bookish class of students into a mean rock band.
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And as the story unfolds as Dewey prepares the class for the Battle of Bands in the face of the children’s difficulty in letting go of what their parents want them to be and discovering their own identity and basically learning to rock out.
Dewey also has to hide his true identity from the school and make sure his best friend's girlfriend doesn’t expose him. And a love theme also unfurls as Dewey falls for the school’s strict headmistress, Miss Mullins, helping her rediscover the wild child within.
As the show opens you hear the voice of Andrew Lloyd Webber announcing that all the children in the performance play their own instruments which is not only a feat in itself but these youngsters are just amazing as actors and singers too. The musical features 14 new songs from Lloyd Webber plus all the original songs from the movie.
Dewy is played by Jake Sharp and he is perfect in this role and believe me all the Mams in the audience were sighing. He’s a happy-go-lucky character who is actually a good egg underneath his camouflage of laziness and selfishness. He can, of course, sing superbly, act and he gives a very energetic performance as he’s jumping on tables and furniture all night.
He has great support from Miss Mullins played by Rebecca Lock who delivers yet another accomplished performance as an uptight teacher who is more rock chick underneath.
And then it’s the children who really are the stars on the production. There are no favourites, they are all fantastic singers and actors, have so much confidence and are totally believable in their roles.
Over the years the show has been an absolute hit, nominated for countless awards and winning an Olivier Award. It’s just a great way to entertain the children and all the kids around me were singing along to the score.
And at the end, the stars got a standing ovation which was thoroughly deserved as they had given us a night to remember and we all left beaming.
School of Rock The Musical is on at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle until Saturday April 2.
