School of Rock – The Musical At New Theatre, Oxford Review

Reviewed by Lindsay Burton

After a long wait, we finally got the opportunity to watch Andrew Lloyd Webber’s fantastic School of Rock, The Musical. We made our way to the New Theatre in Oxford. Got there and the queue was ridiculously long but the start time was extended so that everyone could get in and find their seats. And then, it started!

The just of the story, like the movie, features Dewey (Jake Sharp), a fired guitarist and hungover slob, who pretends to be his mate and takes on a role as a supply teacher at a very fancy prep school for utterly rich folks. No one checks his credentials or seems bothered at all about his haphazard appearance but, by chance, he happens to overhear his class play classical music during a lesson. Dewey immediately spots an opportunity when realising how musically gifted these children are.

And here I just want to point out that these children are actually THAT talented! I don’t want to mention any one child, they were superb in all their roles, have more talent in their left pinky than I do in my entire body and absolutely smashed the stage! They would not be out of place on a West End Stage, and I don’t say that very often!

Dewey (Jake Jake Sharp) secretly encourages his class to experiment with rock music and they all fall in love with being in the band. With a very long and not very honest tale about the dying wishes of the School of Rock, he helps them to qualify for Battle of the Bands. Some spectacular performances from various different cast members. Jake Sharp makes a fabulous Dewey / Mr Scneebly with his potty mouth, lazy attitude and sloppy dressing. When Dewey has to hide his class’s new curriculum from the starchy principal, the prudish Ms Mullins (Rebecca Lock) makes it very clear how this school is run! Lovely to see here remove her specs and display her true self and her love of rock – stunning vocals in all her performances!

The song If Only You Would Listen, in which the students touchingly reject parental dreams and tell us, in Glenn Slater’s lyrics, “I’m not the kid you want me to be”. This one really hit me because I’m a parent of three very busy children and life easily gets to the point where we don’t always listen to our children, we only think we are. This was by far my favourite song, and the next one is Stick It To The Man – you could see the enjoyment of the performance on each cast members face. Obviously, the last performance raises the roof off the building! Every member of the audience were out of seats, clapping to the beat and cheering the band along. Director Laurence Connor together with choreographer Joann Hunter, set and costume designer Anna Louizos, lighting designer Natasha Katz and sound designer Mick Potter truly take theatre to the next level for me in this production.

Rating: A 5/5 from me and most definitely, the best show I’ve seen in ages and definitely not to be missed. Only my second visit to this theatre but thoroughly enjoyed the venue and the amazingly helpful staff! Lots of parking close by too!

To see a full trailer of this show, click here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Zxo1-wfjk&feature=youtu.be

The show is on from 13th December 2021 until 1st January 2022

Tickets start from £13.00 and can be purchased from https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/school-of-rock/new-theatre-oxford/calendar/2021-12-15

Age guidance 8+. Please note that School of Rock contains occasional strong language and may not be suitable for very young children. Please be advised that smoke effects and strobe lights are used during this performance.

New Covid guidelines for this theatre can be found here https://www.atgtickets.com/help/health-and-safety/