School Of Rock The Musical Review
4.3.18
Theatre - New London Theatre , London
Rating - ****
Normally when I see a show by Andrew Lloyd Webber I think "really can he just stop" but when he announced that he'd be turning the 2004 film starring Jack Black into a stage adaptation I didn't really know what to think. I'd heard plenty of good things about the show but I'm just not a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber's work. Whilst up in London to see The Cursed Child , I also made a trip to see The School of Rock. We nearly went to see 42nd Street but we went for School of Rock instead because it seemed a bit more current compared to 42nd Street. I do love the older musicals but after hearing so much about the show I wanted to see how the brought it to the stage.
The musical stays pretty true to the film even with the slight changes such as Freddy being played by a girl instead of a boy which I thought was really cool that they have shared the role between a boy and a girl. Another change was that the scene at the begging of the show wasn't set at a bar like it is in the film and Dewy Finn crowd surfs into a crowd of no one but instead he goes a bit crazy without diving into a crowd of theatre go-ers. The start seemed very rushed actually , I know no one wants a start that drags out but it happened and then suddenly ended without a smooth transition.
Alan Pearson was one of the stand out roles for me. He played Ned couldn't have been cast anymore perfectly for the role. He was just as dorky as Mike White who plays Ned in the film. He was absolutely hilarious and the whole audience cheered when he stood up to his rather demanding girlfriend Patty , who was played by Michelle Francis. Dewey Finn was played by Stephen Leask and again he was another perfect person for the role. Florence Andrew played the role of the headteacher of Horace Green , Rosalie Mullins and oh my god her voice is actually incredible. I'm guessing she's trained in opera because she sang a bit of opera and as someone who hates opera those high notes were something.
The real stars of the show though are the kids who make up the class of kids that get placed into Dewey's plan of entering them into the battle of the bands. For such young actors who are only just starting out in their career they are super talented. The kids in the band played all their own instruments for two of the songs and the kid that played Zack can play a guitar better than some adults who have been at it for a while. The child that played the role of Billy gained a couple of laughs too and he even said the line "your tacky and I hate you" from the film which made me happy.
I feel like the songs were ok but a few of them I've already forgotten about because I didn't think they were that great. I loved stick it to the man and teachers pet but the others weren't exactly as memorable as those two. Like the solo from Rosalie was a bit pointless in my opinion and I was kind of bored. Don't get me wrong Florence is a really talented person but I just wasn't sure on the random solo in a shady bar.
The storyline kept true to the film but I'm not sure if the transition from film to stage was as good as I was hoping for it to be. I liked how during the performance of teachers pet at the battle of the bands the people who were playing the parents were stood around the theatre as if they were almost in the audience watching their children perform onstage. The house band also watched from the balcony where the perform and they looked really happy and proud of the kids.
School of Rock is a great family show especially for those who like rock music. One thing I will say is that the theatre is a nightmare to get to and from. The theatre is on the outskirts of Covent Garden and I really suggest getting a taxi or really planning ahead when it comes to getting there and back to the place you need to get to. No taxi's stop outside the theatre so that was an absolute nightmare. Also the theatre staff were a tiny bit rude when it came to asking about where we could find a taxi but we eventually found one.
The theatre is a pretty reasonable size so no matter where you sit you can see really well as the seats are raised. We had stalls seats near the back and were almost central and had an excellent view. We picked our tickets up from one of the ticket booths in Leicester Square which was a pretty straight forward process. Overall I really enjoyed the show and so did my grandma who I took along with me. I strongly recommend going to see it if you happen to be in London with nothing to do.
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