“School of Rock” Rocks DC

Neil Kavanaugh

School of Rock came to DC these past two weeks as part of a tour which included National Theatre, and Catholic University students loved it. It sounds kind of ridiculous picturing a slacker guitarist trying to find a way to get his ticket to the big leagues through making a rock band full of children as a musical, but it worked. The songs that are found in the play were composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, most famous for creating the broadway hit Cats. Catholic University students were able to go thanks to the Office of Campus Activities giving away free tickets to a showing of School of Rock at the National Theatre.

The show follows the life of Dewey Finn, a middle-aged slacker mooching off his friend with impossible dreams of being a rockstar. Dewey is forced to pay his friend rent by the end of the month, or he would be evicted from their apartment. Due to this, he decides to take a job as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school to get some quick cash.

Dewey started the job, thinking of it as just another way to earn some money. But over the course of the weeks that he spent at the school, he began to care for the students. Instead of the normal class schedule, Dewey taught them all how to play instruments and about the history of rock and roll. The kids learned how to express themselves and how to stand up for themselves when their parents would not listen to them.

Merritt David James plays Dewey, and perfectly encompasses the charisma of Jack Black, who portrayed the character in the 2003 movie, with the added bonus of a superior singing voice. James may have been the headliner, but he was far from the star of the show.

The real talent was found in the children that played his students in the performance. The young actors, around the age of 12, played their own instruments. Sammy Del, Grier Burke, Sami Bray, Julian Brerscia, Mystic Inscho, Alyssa Emily Marvin, Jesse Sparks, Cameron Trueblood, and Gabriella Uhl stole the show with their dazzling music and singing.

Every set they finished was immediately followed by roars of applause from the audience. The final scene featured the band going to the talent show and rocking out in front of the entire audience. The kids were so good that there were cheers for an encore, and they delivered, offering the audience a solo from each of them in the final song.

“The musical was so entertaining to watch and it was so amazing how talented those kids were performing all the music live. I think that was the greatest play that I have ever been to,” said freshman Lizetthe Moreno, who went to the play free of charge thanks to the Office of Campus Activities, which gave away 20 tickets for the Thursday, January 17 performance.

The School of Rock musical is performing at the National Theatre from Wednesday, January 16 to Sunday, January 27. The musical is for kids ages 8 and up.