BWW Exclusive: Lloyd Webber, Slater, Brightman on SCHOOL OF ROCK & The Song that Will Change Every Night!

School is in session. The creators of incoming Broadway musical School of Rock were hard at work last week at the Gramercy Theatre (127 E 23rd Street), where they were workshopping the new musical and treating some lucky fans to a special sneak peek. Creating the new music and lyrics for this stage adaptation of the beloved 2003 film are none other than musical theatre legend Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater, and both revealed exclusively to BroadwayWorld that they've already learned a lot about the show through this process.

Andrew Lloyd Webber discussed how he became involved with the project and how everything just fell together. He said, "I loved the movie and I didn't think originally I would be writing music for it, or as much music as I have done. When we started to look at it we realized there isn't that much music in the original movie."

Glenn Slater, the lyricist for School of Rock, talked to working alongside and collaborating with Andrew Lloyd Webber. He says, "Being able to attack material this much fun, this much funny and with this sort of anarchic and joyous spirit with the man who arguably invented the rock opera with Jesus Christ Superstar has been amazing." Slater also spoke to watching Andrew Lloyd Webber attacking this kind of music again saying, "Watching him return to this part of himself has been so much fun."

Of course, School of Rock would be nothing without the perfect Dewey to lead this new rock musical. Alex Brightman will be taking the role of Dewey, made so popular in the film by Jack Black, to new and incredible comedic and musical heights with this Broadway production.

Alex Brightman spoke to BWW about harnessing his comedic side especially with all of the improv involved. He said, "My final callback had a lot of improv in it. They wanted me to improvise a lot of stuff. I think they were looking for somebody to collaborate with some of the script. One of the cooler things about the show nightly is there are moments in the show that are fully improvised. They are letting us play, so every single night, eight shows a week, there will be a different show guaranteed. I make up a song in the show, so that has been really fun."

Brightman also spoke to working with such a large group of children on stage every night and he said, "It's fun to work with ten year old who are willing to throw the [comedic] ball back to you every night and bust your balls on stage." Andrew Lloyd Webber also spoke about the children in the cast saying that all the children on stage are playing the instruments live, which is an incredible accomplishment in itself.

Usually new musicals have a trial period outside of NYC to work on the material and test it out with an audience, but not School of Rock. This musical broke this convention by having trial performances right in the heart of NYC at the Gramercy Theatre. Andrew Lloyd Webber spoke to this saying, "There are no costumes, no sets... Therefore we've been able to work on the material...We haven't been stopped by technology for making changes and we've played to audiences' and seen where audiences' have responded and where they haven't and worked on it. And it has just been joyous."

Since leaving The Gramercy Theatre on June 6th, School of Rock has continued to take more of a Broadway shape. As previously reported on, Broadway sweetheart Sierra Boggess will play the role of Rosalie Mullins in the Broadway production in November. Boggess has worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber previously in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and LOVE NEVR DIES. The role of Rosalie Mullins was played by Sara Chase in the workshops at the Gramercy Theatre and was played in the film version by the hilarious Joan Cusack.

More casting and information about this highly anticipated new musical is surely to come pouring in as the Broadway production draws closer. For more information and videos from the workshops at The Gramercy Theatre click here.

The highly-anticipated new musical is slated to open on Broadway this coming Broadway season. Previews are slatted to begin on November 9, 2015 with opening night scheduled for December 6, 2015 at the Winter Garden Theatre. School of Rock has music by musical theatre legend Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellows.

SCHOOL OF ROCK follows struggling rock singer and guitarist, Dewey Finn, who is kicked out of his band 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 fourth-graders to attempt to win the upcoming Battle of the Bands and pay off his rent.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride