Tony Tuesday: SCHOOL OF ROCK
This week we’re going back a few years to rock it out to the stage adaptation of one of the greatest films ever written. This week’s TONY Tuesday is:
“You’re In The Band” from School of Rock.
School of Rock is based on the 2003 film of the same name, which sees failing musician Dewey Finn disguising himself as a substitute teacher in order to score a pay-check. When Dewey gets to the prestigious prep school of Horace Green, he discovers the musical abilities of the children studying there and decides to form a band of fifth graders in order to enter and win, an upcoming battle of the bands competition in order to prove his worth a musician.
The film was a box office success and had become a household title and was often speculated upon it being turned into a stage show. This was finally confirmed in Spring 2013, when Andrew Lloyd Webber confirmed that he had purchased the rights for the film and planned to adapt it once Stephen Ward was up and running. It was also revealed that due to relaxed child labour law and better fitting subject matter that the show would receive its premiere on Broadway, rather than in London’s West End. Concern was also raised about the high standard of musicianship required from the children and decided that this was more readily available in the United States. The production was announced in 2014 to begin previews in Autumn 2015, with open auditions in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago being held in January 2015. Lloyd Webber also confirmed that he planned to expand the stories of the children and the relationships with their parents, as well as using all the iconic songs from the film. Glenn Slater and Julian Fellowes were brought on board to write the lyrics and book, with Laurence Connor directing, choreography by JoAnn M Hunter and set and costume design by Anna Louizos.
The Broadway production opened for previews at the Winter Garden Theater on 9 November 2015. The opening night cast included Alex Brightman as Dewey Finn, Sierra Boggess as Rosalie Mullins, Spencer Moses as Ned Schneebly and Mamie Parris as Patty Di Marco. The production opened to positive notices and was a critical and commercial success with exceptional praise given to the child musicians. The production closed in January 2019. The show was nominated for four 2016 TONY Awards, but failed to win any.
After raising initial concerns about not being able to find enough child musicians to standard in the UK to comply with child labour laws, Lloyd Webber was able to open the production in London far sooner than anticipated when he discovered this wasn’t the case. The production was initially billed to open at the Palladium; however, it was then announced it would open at The Gillian Lynne Theatre (then New London). Due to the lack of the proscenium arch, the show was re-designed to fit the theatre, which included a revolve and redirecting some of the action into the stalls. The production opened for previews from 24 October 2016. The opening cast included David Fynn as Dewey Finn, Florence Andrews as Rosalie Mullins, Oliver Jackson as Ned Schneebly, Preeya Kalidas as Patty Di Marco and three teams alternating the children’s roles. The production opened to positive notices and strong box offices return, being nominated for three 2017 Oliviers and winning for Best Achievement in Music. The show closed on 1 March 2020, with David Flynn returning to the role of Dewey to close the production. The production was said to close in order to make way for Lloyd Webbers upcoming production of Cinderella.
The musical toured the USA from 2017-2019, with Rob Colletti starring as Dewey Finn and Lexie Dorsett Sharp as Rosalie Mullins.
The production also premiered in Melbourne in 2018 before touring to China. The production then returned to tour Australia, before touring New Zealand and then touring Australia again.
The musical was set to have its first UK tour premiering in February 2021, however, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the musical has been pushed back to open in June 2021.
Besties, School of Rock is a head-banging soundtrack that is a lot of fun. If you haven’t already, get listening!
Available on streaming services.
FACTS:
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Glenn Slater
Book: Julian Fellowes
Theatre: The Winter Garden Theater
Run: 9 November 2015 – 20 January 2019 (31 previews, 1,309 regular performances)
TONYS:
(NOMINATED) Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical – Julian Fellowes, Best Original Score – Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater, Best Actor in a Musical – Alex Brightman
OLIVIERS:
(NOMINATED) Best New musical, Best Actor in a Musical – David Fynn
(WON) Outstanding Achievement in Music – Three Children’s bands who play music live every night at the New London Theatre.
