Saturday 29 October 2016

SCHOOL OF ROCK THE MUSICAL REVIEW


Hi lovelies! Today, I wanted to do a review for you all, this time, a theatre review! So on Wednesday 26th November, my sister and I went to see 'School of Rock, The Musical' at the New London Theatre. I was so excited to see this, as School of Rock is a very nostalgic film for my sister and I as it's something we absolutely loved as kids and will still watch now! Because of this though, I was actually almost nervous to see the musical, as I so badly wanted it to live up to my expectations and be as good as the film! So, after spending a lovely girly day in London, we headed to the theatre to watch the show at 7:30pm.


We got to the theatre around 40 minutes before the show started to grab a drink and snacks and straight away, I was massively impressed by the theatre itself. The New London Theatre is one of the most modern theatres I've been to, so it looked fab. They had a little set up with guitars that you could play with someone showing you how to play while you were waiting too! As a guitar player myself, I was tempted, but it was mostly kids queuing to have a go, so I thought I'd look a bit nuts!! I did think this was a nice touch though, it's fab to have a little entertainment in that wait time and just makes the whole experience that bit more special.

Onto the actual show itself though! It started off with a performance from 'No Vacancy', which fans of the film will know is Dewey's old band, I won't give any spoilers away, but the song was absolutely hilarious and set the tone for the rest of the performance straight away! The humour throughout is cheeky and a little rude, without being crude, which I think was the perfect balance. There were jokes throughout that would possibly have gone over the heads of younger kids, but were very funny for adults, which is great as it appeals to all ages, particularly the 90s and 00s kids that would've watched the film when it first came out. Some of the jokes in the show were tailored to the audience and the theatre itself also, for example, when Summer sings 'Memory' from 'Cats' Dewey says pointedly 'I never want to hear that song, in this room again!', which was hilarious, as Cats used to show in that theatre. Ned also makes a comment about Nandos at the end of the show, which as you can imagine, got a great reception from a very British crowd!

Something that I really loved about the show was that while they did stick to the premise of the film overall, there were also a few bits that were re-organised to suit the stage a little better and new parts that were added, including a little more back story of the kids and their parents (which included a super sad song called 'If Only You Would Listen'), which I think added to the show and helped you feel more involved with the characters.

The casting was absolutely exceptional, I thought Davin Fynn, who played Dewey, Florence Andrews as Rosalie Mullins and Oliver Jackson as Ned Schneebly were particularly incredible. Jack Black's Dewey Finn is a hugely difficult role to take on as his character was so iconic, but I didn't for a second even think to compare David Fynn to Jack Black, as he took on the role so well. The kids we saw were also just amazing. We were told that this was actually this set of kid's first night doing the show, as it was the third night of the show, and for the first two shows, they'd had a different cast of children. You wouldn't have known at all that it was their first night as they were all so confident and made you really 'believe' them as their characters. Something that my sister told me before the show was that the kids actually play their own instruments throughout the show. The talent of these kids is just insane, they not only played their characters perfectly but sang, danced and played instruments throughout.  I've actually never seen a West End show with so many kids in it before and I can say that these kids have definitely set the bar very high!

My absolute favourite part of the show was the Battle of the Bands at the end. You really felt as though you were at a real rock concert, the 'parents' of the children in the show actually came out into the audience to watch, making you feel like you were actually at the show. When the crowd in the show chanted for an encore, you just couldn't help but join in! By the end of the show, every single person in the theatre was on their feet clapping and cheering the cast, which was hugely well deserved. I'll absolutely be going to see this show again and would thoroughly recommend it if you're considering going.


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