The RBTL ushers in their 2017-18 season with “School of
Rock,” making Rochester the Tony-nominated production’s first stop on its debut
national tour. Adapted from the crowd-pleasing 2003 Richard Linklater comedy
starring Jack Black, the film’s been transformed into an equally crowd-pleasing
stage musical that had the audience at the Auditorium Theatre on its feet
Tuesday night.
The stage adaptation has a rather unexpected
behind-the-scenes pedigree, featuring music from Andrew Lloyd Webber (with
lyrics by Glenn Slater) and book by Julian Fellowes (yes, the creator of
“Downton Abbey”). Webber and Fellowes likely aren’t the first names one would
think of to adapt a goofy rock comedy, but they acquit themselves quite well,
delivering a gleefully good time at the theater.
Updating the story only with a few modern technology and pop
culture references, Fellowes hews fairly closely to Mike White’s screenplay to
tell the story of wannabe rock star Dewey Finn (played by Merritt David Janes
at Tuesday’s performance). A loveable manchild who
refused to ever grow up and leave rock god dreams behind, Dewey lives with (and
happily mooches off of) his best friend Ned (Matt Bittner).
Ned’s nagging girlfriend, Patty (Emily Borromeo) has grown
fed up with his freeloading ways and inability to pay rent, and wants him out. It’s here I note that — though well-performed by Borromeo — characters
like Patty always make me a little queasy. You’ve seen its type a hundred
times: a shrewish, career-minded woman who exists to be a source of derision
until the audience inevitably gets to cheer when she’s finally told off — twice
in this case — by the men around her. And yes, the character is a carryover
from the film, but I can’t help wishing that Fellowes had found some way to add
even a little shading to her.
The plot kicks in when Dewey answers the phone for one of
Ned’s substitute teaching calls, and sees an opportunity to make some money.
Passing himself off as Ned, he accepts a temporary job teaching fifth grade at
the Horace Green prep school. Dewey immediately tosses the curriculum out the
window, nixing the mathematics and social studies to focus on a lesson plan
devoted exclusively to learning how to rawk.
When he discovers that the tykes have some natural musical
talent, Dewey sets about secretly remaking them into his own personal rock
band, preparing them for a battle of the bands competition he already had his
sights set on as a way of getting back at the band he formed, but was then
tossed out of. Along the way, he must also avoid getting into trouble with the
school’s buttoned-up principal Rosalie (the wonderful Lexie Dorsett Sharp), who
thankfully gets to be more of a human than poor Patty.
Dewey’s played with schlubby,
charismatic charm by Janes, even when the performance occasionally falls into
the trap of too closely mimicking Jack Black’s manic original. The actor is
exceedingly likeable, helpful for a character who could easily cross the line
into being unbearably obnoxious. Even better, he’s generous about ceding the
spotlight to the production’s cast of superbly talented youngsters.
The production wisely knows that the kids are the real stars,
playing their own instruments, and completely stealing the show, much to the
delight of Tuesday night’s audience. They’re all wonderful, though the standouts
for me were Ava Briglia as the class resident type-A
personality, Summer (who becomes the band’s manager,
naturally), and Theodora Silverman as the too-cool-for-school bassist.
Dewey teaches them to loosen up, enjoy occasionally coloring
(or strumming as it were) outside the lines, and indulge in some mild rebellion
(a lesson he imparts in the catchy “Stick It to the Man”). And as the
kids unleash their inner rock gods, they manage to teach him just a bit of
discipline and how to care for someone other than himself.
“School of Rock” doesn’t deviate from the film’s plot, but
it’s one of the more successful screen-to-stage translations I’ve seen. What
worked about the film was that it was sweet without ever getting too sappy, and
Fellowes for the most part gets that mix exactly right in the stage version as
well. The exuberant, feel good show wants nothing more than to teach the
youngest in the crowd about the sweet freedom and head-banging joys of rock ‘n
roll. Judging by the little girl seated behind me who enthusiastically turned
the seat back into her own personal drum set during the lively curtain call:
mission accomplished.
This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2017.
