Review: SCHOOL OF ROCK at The Hobby Center

Having never seen "School of Rock," aside from the TV trailers that aired over a decade ago, I cobbled the SCHOOL OF ROCK - THE MUSICAL plot together fairly quickly and accurately using bits and pieces from Movies Like These. In fact, the musical descends more from well-worn tropes than the celebrated Richard Linklater and Jack Black collaboration. But that's not a bad thing.

SCHOOL OF ROCK is still well written. With a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater as well as a book by Julian Fellowes, the show is nearly as pedigreed as an upstairs character from Fellowes' own "Downton Abbey."

Dewey Finn (Rob Colletti) gets kicked out of the band he created - No Vacancy - right before the Battle of the Bands. Then there's trouble at home. He's been mooching off his best friend, Ned Schneebly (Matt Bittner) for years, but now Ned has a girlfriend -- Patty (Emily Borromeo) -- who is cramping everyone's style. Ned has to repress his goth rock tendencies and now Dewey has to pay rent. But, as luck would have it, Rosalie Mullins (Lexie Dorsett Sharp), Horace Green School Principal calls one day to offer a job to Ned Schneebly. A job that pays $950 a week. Dewey steals a substitute teacher gig right underneath his much more qualified and hardworking friend by impersonating said friend. Once he's at Horace Green, Dewey (now Mr. Schneebly) turns a class of fifth-graders into the School of Rock band. Then he sets out to crush his old band with his new band at the Battle of the Bands.

In an interview with BroadwayWorld, Colletti said he worked hard on vocal technique and physicality, but that he had so much in common with his character, Dewey, he didn't have to do deep character research. Based on his performance, he is either a genius or disingenuous. I put my money on the latter. The role was molded for Jack Black, but Colletti molded himself for the role. Colletti excels at playing immature, inconsiderate (and failing) rocker Dewey. It takes a unique talent to say awful things to children and still remain likeable. He has a great voice and he uses it well, well enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with an army of prodigious triple threats. Those kids play the hell out of those instruments.

Zack, the young guitarist played by Phoenix Schuman, is a prodigy (just like the young actor who plays him and the entire youth cast of the show). Katie (Theodora Silverman) is a cool as a cucumber bassist. Lawrence (Theo Mitchell-Penner) is a keyboardist and sex god. Freddy (Gilberto Moretti-Hamilton) is the drummer who made me want to learn the drums. Tomika (Gianna Harris) is the sweet shy girl with a whole lotta voice. And watching over it all is - not Dewey - but Summer (Ava Briglia), Type-A personality and School of Rock band manager. After seeing these performances, I realize that not only do I not know how to rock but that I have been desperately desiring to rock my entire life.

While the first act speeds along, keeping pace with a well-versed audience, the second act drags. It's the double-edged sword of the genre piece. Sometimes, you're hurtling towards an inexorable end and sometimes you're slithering towards it. Also, the comedy lacks subtlety and originality. Like "fat person orders ribs, potatoes with gravy, pie with a Diet Coke." (I'm a card-carrying fat person and I drink a regular Coke with my burger, thank you.) But sometimes old-fashioned, unsubtle jokes work. I learned during this production that the spit take never gets old. (For whoever is interested, there's also a pretty good Jar Jar Binks joke.) And the music is good, so good that I wish this rock musical was a rock opera. "You're in the Band," "Stick It to the Man," and "Where Did the Rock Go?" make SCHOOL OF ROCK - THE MUSICAL more than worth it.

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SCHOOL OF ROCK - THE MUSICAL runs through February 4, 2018. Remaining performances are at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at The Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For information, please call 713-315-2525 or 800-982-2787 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. Tickets start at $35.

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