Preble High School puts on School of Rock

Preble High School students will perform in School of Rock next weekend — a musical based on the hit movie featuring Jack Black.

“This guy — Dewey Finn — is a washed-up rock star that just got kicked out of his own band,” said the show’s director Megan Sweeney. “He takes his roommate’s identity to become a substitute at this really prestigious high school and he fails at first, but then he kind of teaches the class to learn and love rock and roll and teaches them that there’s more ways to be successful than just academics.”

Coming off of last year’s production of Guys and Dolls, School of Rock is a drastically different type of show for Preble students, but one that highlights their talents well.

“It’s a very different genre and style of music for us,” Sweeney said. “Sometimes we pick a show because we’ve got some really standout guys or players and we just have a pretty amazing senior class of musicians that are so multi-talented. This movie has been a favorite of mine ever since it came out in my first year of teaching… It was like, ‘Do we want to do another big, classic, traditional theater kind of show, or do we want to shake things up and move into a totally different genre of theater?’ So we went that direction… There’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of details in this one, but I think we made the right choice for these kids at this time.”

“There’s no hiding in the background with this show,” Ritchie said. “Every single student gets their time to shine. The nature of having a classroom [setting] is that just like a regular classroom, every kid contributes and participates, so it’s interesting to see all the different personalities come through.”

Also different about this show compared to previous years is that students are playing students, offering a level of authenticity that previous shows couldn’t.
“They get to just be kids,” Ritchie said. “Doing something like Guys and Dolls, you really have to step into a different time and put yourself in the shoes of someone from decades ago, but here they’re trying to channel what it’s like to be a kid in a classroom. It feels more real. They’re more authentic on stage, and that’s been kind of different.”

“In classical shows, you have to apply a lens,” said Lleyton DeJardin, who plays Ned Schneebly in the show. “In Guys and Dolls, we had to play old-timey New York people, but in this one, we’re just playing normal people in the 21st century. It’s interesting in the way that we don’t have to act older than we are and we know what everything is about in this show. We know all the references and we get all that stuff, so it’s interesting in that way.”

That’s not to say students didn’t have to learn anything new for their roles, though, as many play instruments on stage.

“The kids on stage are also playing instruments, and they’re all students that did not play those instruments before,” Sweeney said. “We wanted to make sure that we’re doing this as authentically as possible. They’re not playing every note of what’s in their books, but most of it.”

“A lot of us had to learn musical instruments and different aspects that you wouldn’t normally see in a show like this,” said Ella Nelson, who plays Rosalie Mullins in the show. “I hope that the audience really enjoys all of the musical numbers that go into this. It’s not just the pit playing, but really everyone — even in the ensemble — pulling their role.”

Performances of School of Rock will take place Nov. 14-22.

More information and tickets can be found at prebleplayerstheater.ludus.com.