School of Rock

School of Rock is a rock musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Julian Fellowes. Based on the 2003 film of the same name, written by Mike White, the musical follows Dewey Finn, an out-of-work rock singer and guitarist who pretends to be a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. After identifying the musical talent in his students, Dewey forms a band of fifth-graders, in an attempt to win the upcoming Battle of the Bands contest. The musical made its Broadway debut and world premiere on December 6, 2015, at the Winter Garden Theatre, following previews from November 9, 2015, directed by Laurence Connor and starring Alex Brightman as Dewey Finn and Sierra Boggess as Rosalie Mullins. The musical made its West End debut at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on November 14, 2016. Background The musical is based on the comedy film School of Rock (2003). That film was produced on a budget of $35 million, earning over $131 million in global box office receipts. The plot followed struggling rock singer and guitarist Dewey Finn, who is kicked out of the band No Vacancy and subsequently disguises himself as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. After witnessing the musical talent in his students, Dewey forms a band of fifth-graders to attempt to win the upcoming Battle of the Bands. In an April 2013 interview, Andrew Lloyd Webber first revealed that he had purchased the stage rights to Richard Linklater's film, and planned to make its adaptation into a musical his next project after completing the West End show Stephen Ward, centering on the 1963 Profumo affair. The composer stated, "There may be songs for me in it, but it's obviously got songs in it as it stands," and that he would be going from Stephen Ward, "sort of a chamber musical, to a musical about kids playing the guitar." In May 2014, it was revealed that the show was likely to receive its world premiere on Broadway rather than in London's West End due to more relaxed child labour laws in the United States and the fact that the American subject matter fitted Broadway. Webber also credits various locations of the original School of Rock that "...produce the sort of kids required who can actually perform in the show" and that Britain would need similar schools for the show to move to London.