On January nineteenth, Parker Arts hosted the opening night for “The School of Rock, The Musical”. It was an amazing performance with a lovely cast, including actors and actresses of many ages from eight-year-olds to people in their 40’s, and all are very talented. The two-hour, two-part play kept the same story as the movie “The School of Rock”, while incorporating fun and upbeat songs and lots of comedic lines. Luckily, this Friday wasn’t the only time to see this great musical, there are plenty of other showings through February tenth.
This musical starts with a man, Dewey, not feeling “cool enough” and losing his spirit in his musical career. Dewey ends up taking his roommate’s job offer as a substitute teacher at a private school in order to pay rent. He finds out the kids in his class are incredible musicians and teaches them to get into the Battle of the Bands. They make it and end up losing but in the end learn the valuable lesson that it’s not about winning but about how they got as far as they did and about the learning experience that led up to it. The performance at the end made the parents of the children realize how proud they were.
What’s impressive about this was that all of the lead children actually knew how to play the instruments and played very well. Everyone fit their role perfectly and had amazing voices. One in particular stood out to me: Sarah Smith as Tomica. She is a young actress that has a great passion for acting, and a beautiful voice to go with it. Throughout the play, she doesn’t talk but at the end, she finally speaks up and sings Amazing Grace in a beautiful, mature voice. Overall this performance was amazing and I would recommend it, the acting was great and the stagecraft was just as good.
The other show dates to watch this great production are January 26, 27, and 28 as well as February 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, and the last day February 10. Tickets are available for 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm on those dates for $39.00 and $44.00 depending on the seat.
Parker Arts is hosting more productions like this, “Legally Blonde, The Musical” is coming on stage starting June twenty-eighth through July 21.