School of Rock at HCT

Several years ago I went on a theatre trip to New York with Hale Centre Theatre. On one of our free nights a group of HCT staff went to see the new musical School of Rock. The next morning they were all buzzing about it because it seemed like a good fit for HCT if they could find enough kids who played instruments. When HCT announced the 2022 season, one of the shows was left as TBA and, remembering those conversations, I suspected that it would be School of Rock and I was right! I had the chance to see the show last night and I loved it even more than the Broadway touring production I saw a few years ago! Dewey (Bryan Hague) is kicked out of his band No Vacancy right before the Battle of the Bands and his best friend Ned (Will Ingram), with whom he has been living for several years, is under pressure from his girlfriend Patty (Riley Squire) to get him to pay rent. Desperate to earn some money, Dewey takes a substitute teaching job at Horace Green Prep School that is 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 (Cameron Dietlein) on lead guitar, Katie (Sydney Madsen) on bass, Lawrence (Miles Jeppson) on keyboard, Freddy (Nat Paxman) on drums, and Shonelle (Afton Grace Higbee) and Marcy (Alice Alcorn) on backing vocals. He recruits Billy (Amauree Mack) to be the band's stylist, James (Cade Hixon) as security, Mason (Nolan Reinbold) on tech, and Summer (Katherine Clark), the class know-it-all, as the band's manager. Tomika (Taryn Davis), a shy and insecure transfer student, eventually becomes the band's secondary lead singer. Being in the band gives the students more confidence so Dewey decides to enter them in the Battle of the Bands. He just needs to convince the uptight principal Ms. Mullins (Bailee Morris) to let him take the students on a field trip (in a hilarious scene involving the song "Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks). The parents eventually catch on to Dewey's deception but the kids win them over with their performance at the Battle of the Bands. This kids in this show are insanely talented and play their instruments live on stage in the songs "You're In The Band," "Stick It To The Man," "Time To Play," and "School Of Rock."  Dewey's band No Vacancy, with Doug (James Densley) on drums, Theo (Memphis Hennesy) on guitar, Gary (Mark Maxson) on guitar, Snake (Brady Bills) on guitar, Kevin (Eric Noyes) on keyboard, Kyle (Kelly DeHaan) on keyboard, and Bob (Davin Tayler) on bass, perform "I'm Too Hot For You" during the Battle of the Bands and serve as the house band on stage for all of the other songs. They are also fantastic! Hague is incredibly charismatic as Dewey (he does a great job of differentiating his performance from Jack Black's in the movie) and he has a great rapport with the kids. Davis is my favorite young actor in the show because she portrays Tomika's vulnerability very well (after a poignant moment when Tomika proves that she deserves to be the lead singer, Davis broke character for a minute to smile at all of the applause and that was really endearing). The set is a lot of fun, particularly the halls and classrooms at the Horace Green Prep School and all of the speakers and flashing lights that come down from the rafters for the Olympic Powerhouse Club. I also liked the school uniforms worn by the kids (there are Horace Green Prep School patches on their blazers and school bags), especially when they are embellished for their performance. I had so much fun at this show (it will definitely be one of my favorites this year) and I highly recommend it but act quickly because tickets are going fast (go here).  School of Rock runs on the Young Living Main Stage through May 28.