School of Rock Previews

[Tom Sawyer2]

Posted: 11/8/15 at 10:35pm

it starts tmmw

[VotePeron]

Posted: 11/8/15 at 11:41pm

I'm really excited for this. Been waiting for it to pop up on TDF and no dice...

[BOM]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 5:47pm

Seeing this next Wednesday. Hoping to hear good things from anyone who goes tonight. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 6:09pm

Sierra Boggess has been pretty big on her social media today leading up to tonight's first preview! Very much looking forward to seeing what people say. This could go either way, I think.

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 7:48pm

I was super excited for this as I love the movie and a few people in the cast and then I heard that cast album...

[NewsiesForever]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 8:09pm

How is the cast album?

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 8:12pm

^I liked what I heard.

[TerrenceIsTheMann]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 8:13pm

I am really interested in seeing what people think of this one.

[mikem]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 10:29pm

If anyone goes tonight, could you let us know if Andrew Lloyd Webber and Julian Fellowes are signing?  I know that ALW is not everybody's favorite, but I think he has written some beautiful melodies.

[Buddy Plummer2]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:27pm

Just getting back from the first preview. Run time was about 2:45, but with a little trimming it' easily be 2:30. Overall, I thought the show was in really great shape for a first preview. ALW and the director made a preshow announcement that this was their very first full run through (hopefully) without stopping, and aside from a few missed light cues, sound issues, and stagehands coming on at one point to rotate a wall, it was all really quite solid.

the show, especially when the kids are involved, REALLY really soars. Not to Hamilton heights, but for a film based musical, it's a really solid adaptation, taking the best moments from the film and finding how to best translate them to the stage.

aside from Hamilton, easily the best new musical of the season.

[Clyde15]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:29pm

Were there a lot of people there? The photo I saw had the mezzanine looking empty

[Buddy Plummer2]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:30pm

Maybe it was taken preshow? The theatre seemed almost completely sold out save for a few side mezzanine seats. 

 

[Clyde15]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:31pm

Probably just taken at a weird angle then

[Trish2]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:34pm

Waiting for the Whizzers review!

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:36pm

Trish2 said: "Waiting for the Whizzers review!"

 

Same!

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:43pm

Waiting for the Whizzers review is always like waiting for Christmas morning to come.....

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:47pm

Can't wait for the reviews! Been dying to see this since Day 1!

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:52pm

I was there tonight; ALW and the director, Laurence Connor, gave a curtain speech informing us that despite several well-meaning attempts they hadn't successfully run the show from start to finish without stopping. If they made it through tonight we would be seeing the first complete performance along with the creative team. Well, the show didn't stop, although it did certifiably explode several times from the outrageous and wild bursts of talent and energy on the stage of the Winter Garden.

 

Oh, did I mention that I loved this show? Sure, there are a few issues with the book, the first ten minutes need some polishing and a subplot with a best friend and his beyond shrewish wife didn't quite tap into the humor it needed to (all problems that are easily fixable during previews), but the other 90% did work, often like gangbusters.  The whole show filled me with such joy and happiness. I can't remember the last time I was this invested in the fate of a group of characters. 

 

Alex Brightman is a fricking star and at this near-midway point in the season he's my favorite for the Best Actor Tony. I despise Jack Black in basically every role I've seen him in; frankly I was partly dreading seeing the show tonight in fear that Brightman would be directed to give a Black impersonation. Thankfully he is his own man: charming, lovable and a real loser you can root for.

 

And then there are the children, who are so phenomenally talent I can't even tell you. They each have richly individual roles and when the principal children sang the If Only You Would Listen (reprise) I lost it. They were like 20 little Daniel Breakers from Passing Strange, struggling with identity and only figuring out who to express themselves and be heard through art/music.

 

Sierra is having fun as the high strung principal and the adult chorus does a fine job too.

 

The score is catchy as hell. Instead of walking out of a show unable to hum a tune I walked out with 5 or 6 tunes competing for airtime. As soon as act one ended I turned to my friends, opened the Playbill and said, "PLEASE let there be a reprise of Stick It To The Man in act two." How often do pray for reprises nowadays? I just had to hear the song again.

 

Natasha Katz did great work with the lighting and Anna Louizos did both the costumes and set design with (gasp!) real set pieces and no projections!! Like, they actually built set pieces out of wood and metal and painted them and moved them around.  

 

I highly recommend the show and wish it the very best.

[supersam1026]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:57pm

Whizzer is right (surprise!). This may not be the greatest show ever but it keeps you smiling from beginning to end! 

It does need a little trimming, but overall it's in really good shape and I think we could be looking at another one of the possible other 3 nominees for best musical! Oh, and Brightman could very well gain some serious momentum as this goes forward!

 

EDIT: Forgot to write, but they are already making some pretty significant changes to the score from the cast album. Patty's song "Give up your Dreams" is cut in favor of her singing a short reprise of "When I Climb to the Top of Mt Rock". Also Dewey's reprise of "Where did the Rock Go?" Is also cut. Just thought some would be interested in that as well :)

Updated On: 11/9/15 at 11:57 PM

[BOM]

Posted: 11/9/15 at 11:58pm

Whizzer has got me really excited for next Wednesday. 

[Jonwo]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 12:10am

It does seem after a few duds, ALW has a hit on his hands. 

Out of interest, how does it differ from the film? 

Updated On: 11/10/15 at 12:10 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 12:30am

I'm not an ALW fan, but in a season that is expected to be totally dominated by Hamilton, I'd like to see this show succeed. Sounds promising so far. 

Updated On: 11/10/15 at 12:30 AM

[After Eight]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 12:54am

It could easily be called School of Schlock, or School of Stock, as in stock characters and situations. 

The poor audience is subjected to a lead character who's a hyperkinetic, obnoxious, slovenly loser with about one 65th the intelligence of the ten-year-olds he teaches. Forgoing such tired fare as reading, spelling, and geography, he decides to instruct them on the history of rock. Considering what the "educational" canon embraces nowadays, I guess this makes the show highly contemporary. (Didn't a poster here inform us that he took a college course on comic books?) I had to laugh every time the loser told his charges that rock would enlighten them, rock would liberate them ---- yeah, rock would turn them into the same kind of idiot that he is! Personally, I think the kids were far better served with the vocabulary words their real teacher taught them. (Actually, does anyone learn vocabulary words in school any more? How retrograde!)

The score is loud and undistinguished.

The children are likable.

Some years back, there was a musical about a girls' school called The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall, starring Celeste Holm.  I enjoyed it far more than this.

[haterobics]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 12:55am

ljay889 said: "in a season that is expected to be totally dominated by Hamilton, I'd like to see this show succeed."

 

This sentiment comes up a lot, and I never can sort out what it means. When has one popular show ever precluded other shows from doing well? Not to mention, you can't even buy a ticket to Hamilton if you would actually prefer seeing it over something else, heh. Today people were excited they were able to buy tickets to Hamilton for NEXT fall. Just seems like a sold out show at the Richard Rodgers should have zero impact on any other show being able to find an audience.

 

Not surprised this is being received well. It seemed to be in very solid shape in previews this summer. ALW did sign things there, btw. He signed my SOR "playbill" (A folded paper thing), and other people had Phantom CDs, etc., which he gladly and happily signed while chatting with people from the audience.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 1:10am

I had a great time...the kids are wonderfully talented and original.. They were completely spot on...one more charming than the next.  And a good many making their Broadway debut - one of the girls burst into tears when the audience gave them a standing ovation.

 Alex B is fabulous..and I can't even imagine how he can do this 8 times a week - let alone twice in one day (he was sweating within the first 10 minutes).

^^^ I don't think the point of this is that rock and roll is more important than the basics..and you have to be a loser with no teaching credentials to reach kids. But it is saying that being passionate about something is a good way to get kids involved.

Yes needs some fixing up as noted above but basically for a first preview, well done.

Updated On: 11/10/15 at 01:10 AM