Guys – we need to talk about last night! My 8-year old son, Oscar, and I were lucky enough to head on over to The Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham to see School of Rock: The Musical, a show that has been on my Theatre Bucket List for the past four years. And boy, did it exceed my expectations. I’ve got so much to tell you about it that I just don’t know where to start!

WHAT IS SCHOOL OF ROCK ABOUT?

Based on the hit film starring Jack Black, this hilarious musical follows Dewey Finn, a failed, wannabe rock star who decides to earn a few extra bucks by posing as a substitute teacher at Horace Green, a prestigious prep school. There, he turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. While teaching these pint-sized prodigies what it means to truly rock, Dewey ends up falling for the school’s beautiful, but uptight headmistress, helping her rediscover the wild child within.

MY THOUGHTS ON SCHOOL OF ROCK

First thing’s first – what an absolute joy it is to finally be back in the theatre! It’s one of the things I’ve missed most while we’ve been locked down over the last 18 months or so. Seeing the foyer and auditorium bursting at the seams with an excited audience was just brilliant.

The lights went down at 7:30pm, and the show began. In the first scene, we were introduced to ‘No Vacancy’, Dewey’s band who were practising for the coveted Battle of the Bands competition. They opened the show with a hilarious track called ‘Too Hot For You’, and as soon as they started singing, Oscar turned to me and said “This is going to be so good”.

Jake Sharp leads the cast as Dewey Finn – an energetic rock lover and the man who masquerades as his best friend, Ned Schneebly, in order to get enough cash together to pay his rent. Jack Black played the original Dewey in the movie, and as you can imagine, he has very big shoes to fill. But Jake is phenomenal in the role. His charisma and incredible comedic timing makes him the perfect fit. With unwavering energy, Sharp’s performance is infectious. He spends the majority of the show on stage, yet doesn’t seem to break out in a sweat. And his natural raport with the young cast is what makes this musical so heart-warming.

Alongside Sharp, Rebecca Lock plays Rosalie Mullins; the schools uptight principal and the unlikely target of Finn’s affection. Although I’ve never actually seen Rebecca in a musical before, I’ve always heard great things about her, and she didn’t disappoint. She has the most exquisite range of vocals, and her character development was one of my favourites to watch as Dewey brings out the wild child in Miss Mullins. Whenever she showed glimpses of loosening up, I was rooting for her character to stop taking life so seriously and just have fun. The chemistry between her and Jake is sheer perfection.

On the night we saw School of Rock, the role of Dewey’s best mate, Ned, was played by James Bisp, who also gave a brilliant performance. When he was trying to keep the peace between Dewey and his girlfriend, Patty, his facial expressions cracked me up. It was clear to see he was giving the role his all, and this is what I love about understudy’s. They always work super hard, learning different roles and performing them whenever they’re needed.

In fact, the whole cast of School of Rock are incredible and create a high quality production. But it’s the kids that really steal the show. They are ridiculously talented at acting, singing, and dancing, and they even play their instruments live on stage throughout the show. They really inspired my 8-year old, who has been thinking about taking up electric guitar for a while now. Today he had me ringing around local instructors as he definitely wants to learn to play! He also wants to audition for School of Rock, but I think that may be a little too ambitious at the moment. LOL.

The children performing on press night were Isaac Forward as Freddy, Ivy Balcombe as Katie, David Gluhovsky as Lawrence, Hanley Webb as Zack, Saffia Layla as Summer, Jasmine Djazel as Tomika, Alex Shotton as Billy, Ophelia Parsons as Sophie, Darmani Eboji as James, Lliy Rose Martin as Marcy, Nesim Adnan as Mason and Eden Anthony as Shonelle. All of them did an incredible job, and I think they’ll go on to do great things when they’re older. Well done, guys – you rock!!

School of Rock: The Musical also has an incredible soundtrack, filled with a mix of original songs from the movie as well as new – more theatrical – additions. As I’ve been wanting to see the show for so long now, I was already familiar with the majoirty of the songs, but since most of them were written by a certain Mr Andrew Lloyd Webber, it wouldn’t have mattered if I hadn’t known them. He has a real knack for reusing the same tunes over and over in his musicals, so by the second or third time you hear it, you feel like you know it anyway, even though each one has completely different lyrics.

Particular favourites of mine (and Oscar’s) include the super catchy Stick It To The Man, When I Climb To The Top Of Mount Rock, Give Up Your Dreams, and, of course, You’re In The Band. We even played the soundtrack while I cooked dinner tonight and had a little boogie around the kitchen!

SUMMARY

School of Rock is the perfect musical for the whole family to see, although I should warn you that there is some colourful language used here and there. Oscar didn’t seem to notice though! It’s fresh, funny and boasts young talent like no other I’ve ever seen on stage before. You’re even encouraged to take photographs during the finale, which is usually unheard of in theatre land. It’s guaranteed to be a spectacular night out that will remind you of the magic of live theatre once again. What more could you ask for!? Nottingham – you’re in the band!

School of Rock: The Musical is running at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall until Saturday 20th November 2021, before continuing on its tour around the UK. Tickets for the shows can be booked by clicking here.

Have you guys seen School of Rock: The Musical yet?
If so, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.
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I was kindly given 2 tickets to School of Rock in exchange for an honest review