School of Rock at the Eccles

I have a long list of musicals that I really want to see and last night I got to cross one that was pretty near the top off (number one on that list is coming to Broadway at the Eccles next season and I will be seeing number two in San Francisco in the fall).  School of Rock the musical is very similar to the movie of the same name starring Jack Black and I really enjoyed it.  Not only is it a feel good show but the kids in the cast, who play their own instruments, are all insanely talented!  Dewey (Merritt David Janes) has been kicked out of No Vacancy, the band he formed, right before the Battle of the Bands.  Ned (Layne Roate), Dewey's best friend with whom he has been living for several years, is under pressure from his girlfriend Patty (Madison Micucci) to get him to pay rent.  In desperation, he takes a substitute teaching job at Horace Green Prep School meant for Ned.  The students in his class are being crushed under the pressure put on them by their parents who don't understand them.  After hearing them during their music class, Dewey decides to form a band with Zack (Mystic Inscho) on lead guitar, Katie (Leanne Parks) on bass, Lawrence (Julian Brescia) on keyboard, Freddy (Cameron Trueblood) on drums, and Shonelle (Arianna Pereira) and Marcy (Alyssa Emily Marvin) on backing vocals.  He recruits Billy (Sammy Dell) to be the band's stylist, James (Jacob Moran) as security, Mason (Dylan Trueblood) on tech, and Summer (Sami Bray) the class know-it-all (I probably laughed harder than I should have when Dewey calls her Hermione Granger) as the band's manager.  Tomika (Camille De La Cruz), a shy and insecure transfer student, eventually becomes the band's secondary lead singer.  As the students play they become more confident and Dewey decides to enter them in Battle of the Bands.  He just needs to convince the uptight principal Ms. Mullins (Lexie Dorsett Sharp) to let him take the students on a field trip (in a hilarious scene involving the music of Stevie Nicks).  Eventually, the parents catch on to Dewey's deception but the kids convince him that they need to perform at the Battle of the Bands and this performance wins over the parents.  Janes has a great rock and roll voice and a fun rapport with all of the kids but I couldn't help comparing him to Jack Black.  The true stars of the show are the kids and every time they performed (my favorite songs were "Stick It to the Man," "Time to Play," and "School of Rock") they brought the roof down on the Eccles Theatre.  This show is so much fun and it runs through June 2 (tickets may be purchased here) at the Eccles.