The School of Rock

I am very fortunate to have the pleasure of touring the East Midlands being invited by Community Theatre companies to see their excellent plays, musicals, and pantomimes.  This week I had the great pleasure to see two performances of School of Rock and was therefore able to see both the Fender and Gibson teams of the Nottingham Arts Theatre Youth company “smashing the doors off” School of Rock the Musical.  

It is always interesting to see a Company who primarily put on youth productions decide to extend their capabilities into a full adult production and im happy to say that based on the evidence of the two performances I saw, this particular company stepped up to this challenge with great enthusiasm, energy and talent.

School of Rock centres on Dewey Finn a guitarist who has been rejected by his band and is now basically living off the generosity of his friends, out of a job and with no obvious plan to break out of the negative spiral he finds himself in.  Nik Hudson was ideal for this role, he managed to display his desperation and dejection with his life at the start of the show as well as the passion for music that he, through a set of curious circumstances, was able to share with students at the exclusive private school and bring new joy to their lives through their participation in the “Battle of the Bands”.   Nik always managed to grab the audience’s attention while at no time overacting or upstaging the rest of the talented cast.

The strongest vocal performance of the night belonged without a doubt to Beccy Burgess as Rosalie Mullins the collage principal.  Beccy’s seven years as a singing teacher was clear to be heard but she coupled this with an almost effortless acting prowess as Rosalie developed from a tight laced stereotype to a warm and vulnerable woman devoted to her pupils, and able to embrace their passion for music as well as looking after their best interests even when these are at odds with the wishes of her paymasters – the tight-laced parents.

Luc Chignell and Keira Dormer-Hazell were on fine form as the long-suffering Ned and Patty Schneebly the long suffering couple who have been supporting Dewey rent free during his recent bad times.  Ned as a best friend and Patty as an increasingly resentful wife of a best friend…  Their comic timing was just perfect and both managed to make their characters very three dimensional, with plenty of light and shade.

Without doubt having cast members in a rock musical who are able to play instruments as well as they act and sing, brings a whole new dimension to a production.  With School of Rock, this is a “must”!.  Austin Owen, Gilles Briggs, Connie Tegerdine and Orla Donohoe were simply awesome in their acting, vocal and musicality talents.  They really understood their respective delivery of guitar, drum, bass and keys which made the finale “Battle of the Bands” competition performance such a highlight.

In addition to the four named band members I have to also call out the great, understated, pivotal roles played by all the younger members of the Fender and Gibson casts.  I don’t think I have seen a production with two such impressive younger “Ensemble” characters who brought out their unique characters and at the same time displayed such unity and collective strength that is typical of many a school class.  So congratulations to Hermione, Sophie, Ario, Kayla, Seth, Ayanna, Ruby, Martha, Esmie, Megan, Solomon, Ruby, Grace, Leo, Amelie, Harry, Taya, Isla, La-Mai, Florence, Nevaeh and Adam.

Moving to “The adults” I was struck throughout by the versatility and talent that each one of the actors displayed in their multiple roles in both Fender and Gibson casts.  Curtis Salmon was a very believable lead singer and schoolteacher, Chris Surridge took a night off from directing and delivered two nicely judged characters – parent and schoolteacher. Jonathan Jaycock again delivered two very different portrayals that were very well judged. Alex Nickson and Jack Kent were very believable band members and college staff. Sean Briggs and Gavin Owen brough out their own unique interpretation of Mr Sandford, Gabe and Jeff and both made all of these roles their own.

Michael Coles, Mark Russel, Chloe Crofts, Helena Cave, Brogan Hayes, Alison Russell and Samantha Whitworth all managed to give life and personality to their smaller but pivotal portrayals ensuring that the overall adult team involvement was the match of the stellar performances delivered by the school students throughout the performance and I was particularly drawn to the performance of Eleanor Carty as a security guard with significant attitude!

So finally I have to make special mention to the Production Team and their great Technical Team.  Having attended a couple of rehearsals to take cast and performance photos, I was able to see first hand the hard work and dedication that the team invested in this production.  Linsey clearly had a vision of what she wanted and ensured every single character shone.  Jessica and Zoe’s choreography was always sensitive to the talents of the cast and the plot.  You could see from the smiles all round that the cast were having a blast – which at the end of the day always leads to great performances.  A J Hill and Jonah Williams had clearly spent quality time with the cast, musicians and band alike with diction always being strong and the driving soundtrack a strength throughout the production. 

Sound and Lighting, Critical to the success of the production was always a highlight – great separation and balance nt from stage and Pit and immense lighting highlights from Ollie, especially in the finale.  Wardrobe was always on point for students, parents, adults and staff alike.

Thank you one and all for two great nights at the Theatre and for all the energy enthusiasm and talent, on and offstage, that made the production a great success!

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