School Of Rock – Script Youth Musical Theatre Company
Highbury Theatre
Monday 3rd July 2023 – Dress Rehearsal
By Nigel Gambles
Photography – Nigel Gambles Photography
I was lucky enough to be invited to Script Youths dress rehearsal of School of Rock and I have to say the kids are more than all right and definitely “Sticking It To the Man”
The show is based on the hit movie starring Jack Black and focuses on Dewey Finn, a slacker wannabe rocker who has been dumped by his band and winds up masquerading as a supply teacher at a snooty prep school. He proceeds to introduce his pre teens class the joys of rock and gets them ready to compete in “The Battle Of the Bands” Along the way Dewey finds romance, self-worth, a proper job, and, most importantly he teaches the children and their parents the beauty of rock!
Harry Robbins is a joy to watch as Dewey delivering an explosive performance full of energy. He comes across as the scruffy free loader possessed with rock, and performs knockout versions of “You’re in the Band” and “Stick it to the man” He is complemented by the wonderful Evie Rice who plays Rosalie the uptight headmistress, she sings a fantastic rendition of “Where did the rock go?”
I had thought that all the singing might be a little high pitched and the instrument playing not that good- boy was I wrong! The singing was varied and interesting, the kids played their instruments live, but you could also hear the house band playing holding it all together.
The performances were universally knock-out – from Ruby Edmonds as the face-melting guitar genius Zack to Gracie Reynolds as Tomika who emerges from her shell with a shockingly good “Amazing Grace”; from Kadeena Glendon as Lawrence, the gluten-intolerant loner who becomes a cool dude on the keyboards, to Zachery Duke as the flamboyant, design-mad Billy. Full credit to Alex Brown who plays Freddie the drummer who learnt to play drums for the show. Top marks and gold stars to the remainder of the cast who were all tremendous.
