Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham – until 20th November
Reviewed by Boo Wakefield
4****
Nottingham Concert Hall shook last night to the sounds of School of Rock, which is on its UK tour now it has finished in the West End. From start to finish, it will have you laughing, crying and definitely singing along to this fast-moving musical.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock is based on the hit movie and follows the life of Dewey Finn, an endearing character who is down on his luck. He has just been thrown out of a rock band which was about to enter a competition called the Battle of the Bands, dashing all his dreams. As his whole life crumbles, he decides to masquerade as his best friend and takes up an offer of a job as a supply teacher at an elite school. He is put in charge of a class of bright students who, to his surprise, can sing and play music and sets about teaching them about the rock idols he loves rather than the curriculum. This gives him the idea of training them to enter the Battle of the Bands but can he get away with this without being caught by the headmistress or the parents?
It would be easy to make comparisons with the original movie, but Jake Sharp, who stars as Dewey Finn, has made this role his own. Sharp’s ability to play guitar live whilst blasting out numerous songs surrounded by 12 incredibly talented children is awesome. His energy levels never drops and his comic timing is spot on. And believe me, the sweat is real!
Rebecca Lock plays Rosalie Mullins, the headmistress who also falls for Finn, has the ability to swap her voice from an impressive soprano voice to beautiful singing with ease.
Unlike in the movie, the children’s family life is shown earlier in the production which gives more background to their characters. As a group, they are an impressive bunch singing and preforming their way through the production with strong voices, excellent timing, and mind-blowing instrumental skills. They risk outshine the adults in this production. Alfie Morwood, who plays Billy who takes on the task of designing the costumes for the band, is superb and deliver his part perfectly. But its Jasmine Djazel who really steals the show as Tomika. Her voice, which you expect to be as quiet as her character, is sweet and clear but then builds to an outstanding strong performance.
This production is slick, energetic, and all-round entertaining and is well worth a visit