'School' ready to rock Broadway
NEW YORK -- Alex Brightman just landed his first leading role on Broadway. But for a certain group of tweens, he's already a superstar.
Bounding into a conference room in Paste BN's Midtown offices, Brightman -- who plays frustrated hard-rock musician-turned-substitute teacher Dewey Finn in the upcoming musical School of Rock -- is met by the beaming faces of five of his co-stars, aged between 11 and 13. Hugs and high-fives are exchanged as the actor catches up with his disarmingly precocious castmates, who play Finn's students in the new adaptation of the beloved 2003 film comedy.
The show, which features new music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who made his name weaving rock 'n' roll into musical theater, generated buzz with a downtown residency in June. Previews at the Winter Garden Theatre begin Nov. 9, with an opening date of Dec. 6 -- which, for Brightman, 28, will mean "a lot of growling, a lot of screaming. And that's just the singing. I also yell at kids throughout the show."
On screen, Jack Black played Finn, who after being kicked out of his band poses as his roommate to land a gig at a posh prep school. Utterly unequipped, and unwilling, to teach the curriculum, Black's character instead imparts confidence to his fifth graders by forming a rock group with them, eventually winning over the school's tightly wound principal (played by Joan Cusack) and a posse of snooty parents.
Brightman, who considers comedy his strong suit, is a "huge fan" of Black and the movie, but says his stage performance will be "a little more sardonic, a little edgier," and will incorporate improvisation. "It starts high, energy-wise and note-wise, and doesn't let up."
Lloyd Webber, who was immediately drawn to School after watching the film 12 years ago, initially thought of writing music "just to fill in some gaps," but then realized there weren't many songs in the film, and several were showcased "in tiny little fragments. I thought there were some great moments that lent themselves to musical numbers." He also wanted, with lyricist Glenn Slater, to flesh out various relationships represented in the story.
For the composer, School also represented an opportunity to revisit his roots. He describes the score -- which incorporates songs and excerpts of songs used in the movie, but is predominantly original -- as harking back to his early works Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. "I had fun writing rock songs again."
Lloyd Webber enlisted veteran rock producer Rob Cavallo, who will help craft arrangements and co-produce the cast recording. Cavallo describes the songs as nodding to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Queen and Bon Jovi, adding, "We're just going to let our hair down and go crazy."
School's librettist, Downtown Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, might seem less obviously suited to the material. But Fellowes, whose credits also include Gosford Park and the book for Disney's stage adaptation of Mary Poppins, notes that like Lloyd Webber, "I've spent a lot of time in America." Fellowes also "grew up in the '60s, which was really the age of rock. I remember how extraordinary it was, the shock of it -- how it cut through everything. That's, in a way, what the show's about."
The musical also offers, Lloyd Webber believes, "an empowering story" for today's children. His charitable Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation "does a lot of work with kids, and I believe strongly that music can have a huge effect on them." In School, he notes, the child actors play their own instruments, and "the fundamental thing is how every character's life changes for the better, through music."
Brightman agrees that "the goal is to get kids in (to see the show), and get them to want to play. That would be a really cool thing."