School Of Rock dream team blown away by ‘incredible’ Aussie talent
The creative dream team behind School Of Rock admit they were “spoilt for choice” when it came to picking kids for the cast of the Australian musical production. They are excited to share the ‘incredible’ Aussie talent with audiences as the musical makes it debut in Sydney.
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Take one smash hit movie with Jack Black, add the world’s biggest musical maestro Andrew Lloyd Webber and stir in Oscar-winning scriptwriter and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and you’d be fairly confident of a successful recipe for School Of Rock, the musical.
But Fellowes, 70, is more modest about it.
“The central challenge in life is to be un-disappointing,” he says.
“You want to ensure people don’t think the book or film was so much better. You are hoping to keep their affection, but at the same time not to simply give them the same recipe unaltered as that’s a little disappointing too.”
Of course, School Of Rock, which is now previewing at the Capitol Theatre ahead of opening night on Friday, is anything but disappointing and is instead, the feel-good family show of the season.
Fellowes, who joined up with Lloyd Webber and his wife Madeleine who co-produced the show, says it was a dream to work on, and he’d love to do another project with them. Were there any clashes between the two giants of stage and screen?
“To be honest, people’s temperament is more important than their experience,” he says.
“Some people are pleasant and easy to work with and others are not.
“Andrew and I worked very well together. I would love to work with him again.”
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Speaking to Insider in the UK, Fellowes and Madeleine Lloyd Webber both say they were astonished by the level of talent in Australia when casting for the children’s roles.
“It is incredible how much talent there is in Australia,” Madeleine, 56, says.
“We couldn’t believe how well-trained and skilled the kids were and how many there were to choose from.
“The music education must be pretty good because the talent we have in Sydney is absolutely amazing. We were spoilt for choice.”
In fact, Fellowes initially assumed he’d have to write the children’s parts older as it would be impossible to find kids who could play musical instruments to such an advanced level.
“But not only could we find the children but (we were) simply bursting with them,” he says.
It was Madeleine who wanted to bring the movie to the stage after she saw the film in 2003.
“I thought this is going to be easy. I wrote to Paramount and said I have got this very good idea and I have quite good people in the background, including my husband who knows a bit about musicals. I thought they would be absolutely delighted,” she says.
They were not.
“Every year I wrote saying can I have the rights and every year they wrote back saying no, and then suddenly in 2012 I got a note back saying ‘yes’.”
They opened on Broadway, followed by London and the rest of the world. And after a rapturous reception in Melbourne, now Sydney audiences are set to be charmed.
“I think Aussies thought we were going to fudge it, but they were blown away by it and really surprised,” Madeleine says.
“We announce the kids play live at the start of the show, there is no dubbing.”
She says Australians also laugh in different places to other nations.
“The Australian Dewey gets laughs where other Deweys don’t,” she says.
“The audiences love the non-PC humour, it’s quite laddish to start with.
“I think a lot of Australian dads might slightly dread being dragged along to the festive musical treat, but this is the one show I guarantee they are going to love.”
And it has an uplifting message.
“It’s an optimistic show about redemption, no life is ever lost, if you can just turn a corner. That is essentially a message we all want to hear,” Fellowes says.
“We are also saying if you get to know your children you will enjoy them more than if you are just telling them to be like you — something every parent has to learn at some point.”
“The other serious point about School Of Rock is that music in education is being squeezed everywhere and it’s amazing how inspiring it can be for kids seeing other kids who are really good at an instrument and have got a job,” Madeleine adds.
Fellowes is living proof of turning your childhood dream into a career. It was one of his teachers, a monk, who inspired him to go into the theatre.
“He was Father Dominic Milroy, who has just died, and he ran the theatre at Ampleforth,” he says.
“He said to me, ‘I think you should consider the theatre as a career.’ In 1964 this was like someone now telling you to be an astronaut — it had no reality whatsoever. Nevertheless, it did make me think.”
As for what’s next for the dream team — Andrew Lloyd Webber is working on a Cinderella musical, Madeleine is refurbishing London’s Theatre Royal in time for Frozen next year and Fellowes is putting the finishing touches to his new TV series Belgravia.
“I think it has come up very well. It’s set in 1842, a very interesting period early on in Queen Victoria’s reign. I hope people like it,” he says.
He’s also about to start production on The Gilded Age — his first period drama set in the US.
“It is very exciting as it’s quite a departure for me,” he says.
Having visited Melbourne and Sydney – could we ever see him penning an Aussie Downton?
“I don’t think one should ever say never,” he says.
“The story of the start of Australia is a very gripping one — I mean what those men and women went through, God almighty. Australia’s history is shorter than America’s but it has happened with dizzying speed. I find all that absolutely fascinating.”
* School Of Rock runs at the Capitol Theatre until February 2, 2020. For more details or tickets, go to au.schoolofrockthemusical.com