School of Rock My Life

You ready?

'In a few moments,

'the first-ever performance of School Of Rock will begin.'

-How are you feeling, Amelia?

-I'm feeling really excited.

'For all of us in this room, it's a dream come true.'

ALL: Oooo!

'Excited but nervous.'

It's the first time that School Of Rock

has been open to the public,

and I'm going to perform in it.

'It just shows how far I've come.'

When we're backstage,

we all make sure that we've tucked in our shirts.

'It's completely sold out. My mum just told me.'

Today is, like, probably the biggest day of my life.

'Like, really big. It's so awesome.'

I'm so excited!

It's definitely a dream come true

cos I've always wanted to, like, perform in the West End,

and, oh, it's just amazing.

We've been rehearsing like crazy for the past three months,

and even been photographed with the show's composer,

the world-famous Andrew Lloyd Webber.

But now, it's the moment of truth.

So excited to go on stage! So excited!

That's me, Bailey, at my audition for School Of Rock.

The way I heard about School Of Rock was on Facebook,

and it said "School Of Rock Auditions"

with a picture, and there was a link at the bottom.

"I need to go for this audition."

That was my initial thoughts when I heard about it.

And that's me, Lois, on the bass guitar.

I did about...seven auditions, I think.

Cos there was a lot of auditions.

I was so nervous that I wasn't going to get the part.

# Amazing Grace... # 'And that's me, Amelia.

'I've never done auditions for anything this big,'

so it was pretty scary, but it was also really exciting as well.

Very, very lovely. That's fine.

APPLAUSE

Amazingly, I got the part out of hundreds who auditioned.

CROWD CHANTS: School Of Rock! School Of Rock!

My mum came out, and I was playing with my sister and my little cousin,

and she just came out

went, like, "Guess what? You got the part!"

And I ran up the stairs and started screaming,

"I got the part! I got the part!"

The moment I found out that I got the part of Katie, I was so excited.

My mum came rushing down the stairs

and just said, "You've got the part!"

And it's just...wow.

We're going to London to do School Of Rock.

I'm really excited. So, I'm in the middle of packing my suitcase,

and these are all my favourite things to wear.

It is scary, as well, cos I've never, like, done this before.

So it's, like, my first time ever, so I will miss everybody.

'I'm going to have to move to London by myself for six months.'

The view is amazing.

'So Mum and I go to one of our favourite places before I leave.'

Up!

She's 11 going on 18, so...she's ready for it.

She's old enough in the head, I think, to get on with it

and enjoy it and realise what it is that she's doing.

Mum! Mum!

I think it's going to be hard, because she's my best mate,

I'm going to miss her.

-I'm going to miss you, Mum.

-I'm going to miss you more.

Come here. You're not allowed to make me cry.

I'm not opening my crying gates yet.

'I've also got to say goodbye to my baby brother Asher.'

Mwah!

'And to Dad.

'And head to London for our adventure to begin.'

Hi! So, I am on the train, and it's Saturday

and I'm going to be in London soon.

And I can't wait.

Hi!

'Monday morning in London,

'and for all of the children in School Of Rock,

'it's day one of rehearsals.'

I'm really excited, and I'm excited to meet all the other kids

and start the dancing, and...it's just awesome.

Morning, morning.

Can you make a nice circle for us and take a seat on the floor?

So, a great big circle. Just go right out.

OK, welcome to School Of Rock, to Horace Green School.

Are we ready to do some work?

ALL: Yes!

Get your blood flowing!

JoAnn is the choreographer,

so she's going to be teaching us all the dance moves.

Make sure those knees go over your toes,

make sure your heels go on the floor.

'I can't even explain. I'm so excited.

'I literally never in a million years thought I would be here,'

and it's just incredible.

I'm so happy!

Some of the exercises at the beginning were really tough

cos it hurt a little bit.

Guess you have to do it cos it's, like, a really big opportunity

cos it's, like, amazing!

Oh, yeah, Bailey! Woo, woo!

'All of today has been really good because it's been fun'

and I've been getting stuff right,

and I like to get stuff right.

Step is on the beat. # Here the chorus ring. #

ALL: # Ever onwards

# Destined to achieve. #

'In the first week of rehearsals,

'we start to learn some of those songs and the dance routines.'

ALL: # Ooh, la... #

# Ooh, la, la. # And there's a pulse.

# When the way you're treated has you got you good and... #

Hold! Yes!

'It's hard work, but a lot of fun.'

'Most children go home at the end of the day,

'but those of us who live far away

'stay in a special School Of Rock house.'

'There's a classroom where we study in the mornings,

'a music room, of course, where we practice after rehearsals,

'and we even have house parents

'who cook us dinner at the end of the day.'

-We are a big family.

-I'm the big brother!

-Little sister!

-SHE LAUGHS

They're like brothers and sisters. It's a lovely environment,

so they're working together, they're living together.

and I think that has a knock-on effect on their performance,

on the show, being together all the time.

We just recreate a happy home-from-home environment.

It's been the first week in the house, and it's really fun,

but I've been getting just a little bit homesick,

and I really miss my parents.

But everybody in the house has been really nice to me.

'We all, like, play instruments and stuff

'and we've been doing really fun things.'

-# I'm in the band!

-I'm in the band!

-BOTH:

-# We're in the band!

# Band! #

In case you don't know,

School Of Rock tells the story of Dewey, a bit of a loser,

who pretends to be a teacher at a smart private school.

Where he turns his class into a bunch of rockers.

It was a famous film,

and hopefully it'll become a famous musical as well.

With great pleasure, I can introduce you to your Dewey Finn.

THEY CHEER

Woo!

Thank you, thank you.

'The scene we're rehearsing today

'is when Dewey tells us kids the meaning of rock.'

Scoring chicks!

'To stand up for yourself,

'to take no nonsense from parents or teachers,

'to stick it to the Man.'

The point is the Man.

He is the one that makes all the rules,

he is the one that keeps you down.

And how does that make you feel?

Do you all feel ticked off?

KIDS: Yeah!

What makes you more angry than anything else in the world?

You, Katie!

Being...overscheduled!

KIDS: Yeah!

# Parents overwork ya, stick it to the Man. #

What else? Uh, you, Freddie!

All the pressure!

Oh, all that pressure?!

-# Hate the way they jerk ya?

-Stick it to the Man! #

'My character is called Freddie,

'and Dewey turns him into a rock and roll drummer.'

I really identified with Freddie.

It's kind of my story in a way as well.

When he plays drums, he just lets everything out,

and that's what I do as well.

My dad is a drummer,

and he's played for Plan B, The Streets and Akala.

Literally just inspires me.

I would just sit and watch him all day

and then till he got up one day, and I just went on and started playing.

I've had a drum kit since I was three.

I think the biggest challenge is going to be singing.

Cos the drumming's a more natural thing for me,

and singing, I have to try and make it a natural thing.

My voice doesn't mix with singing.

Cos it just doesn't, and I hate singing.

One, two, three, four.

In the show, we all play the instruments for real.

Of course, Bailey's on the drums,

while I'm rocking out as Katie, the bass guitarist.

I can relate to Katie because

we both...started playing the cello.

Then I really got into drumming.

Then School Of Rock came along so I learnt the bass.

It's kind of the same as Katie cos Katie started with the cello

and then she learned the bass from the knowledge of the cello,

and I kind of did the same.

She's quiet, but she's got a little bit of, like...

inside of her. Like...

Like, fire, I guess!

# Katie, you're in the band. #

I can relate to that.

Remember, we start...

# Doo, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo, doo. #

# Doo, doo-doo... #

'As for me, I'm playing Shonelle, one of the backup singers,

'and I am loving every minute of it.'

The West End is full of productions starring children.

From Matilda to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

Right now, I am going to meet two of the Charlies

from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

I'm really interested to find out what it's like

to be in a West End show, cos I've never done it before.

-Hi!

-I'm Noah.

-Nice to meet you.

-Hi, I'm Archie.

-Hi, I'm Amelia.

'Noah and Archie both play the main role of Charlie

'and have been in the show for a year and a half.'

-Wow.

-It's a very old theatre. It's, like, the oldest in London.

Ooh, it's nice up here, isn't it? Great view.

What's the hardest thing about being in a West End musical?

You do miss your parents a lot, and it's...

But when you're on there, it's so much fun.

You mostly get homesick when you're on your own,

but then when you spend time with all your friends and everything,

you just get distracted and you just play with them,

and then it's just...

Yeah. When me and Noah started, we were there for each other.

There were times when we felt really homesick.

-We were like brothers, almost, weren't we?

-Yeah.

-Almost.

-I used to call you my little brother.

-Yeah.

-I'm the big brother.

Do you miss your friends a lot as well?

When you're at school, you have your school friends.

Then, when you come back, they're a bit iffy about you

cos they're quite jealous.

So you've got to try and get back into their good books,

-if you get...

-Yeah.

You sometimes miss some of the stuff that they do,

and you're like, "Oh, damn, if only I could do that."

But at the same time, you've got to think we can never do this again,

so we've really got to take it as it comes.

-You've got to keep it whilst you're young, aren't you?

-Definitely.

Cos when you're young,

you have, like, a matter of five years to do it,

and then when you're like, when your voice breaks,

until, like, 20, there will hardly be any jobs, will there?

Just remember that you are in a West End show

and you have the time of your life on stage.

# Rock the house and make a scene

# And crank the amp to 17! #

Crank it! Crank it! Crank it! Crank it up here!

'It's still six weeks before we'll be on stage.'

'But in the meantime, we're rehearsing four days a week.'

'And having the time of our lives.'

Awesome, awesome! Go to lunch. Nicely done!

So, guys, just after lunch...

Hey, guys, I'm about to go into my secondary school.

It's my first day, and I'm starting in a new school.

I'm really nervous

cos I've had a bit of a rough time in primary school.

I'm the only one that is going to the new school from my old school,

and I know nobody there

and it's going to be a lot to keep up with

with school and School Of Rock.

And I'm scared I'm not going to make many friends

because I'm going to be out,

and I'm just really scared.

'For me and the others in the School Of Rock house,

'even though we don't go to our schools, school comes to us.'

All the work from our normal school

gets brought down all the way to here.

That's all the work that everybody else is doing at school,

and...oh, yeah, it's just so tiring.

Emma, Emma...

'After a couple of weeks,

'it turns out secondary school isn't so scary after all.'

-Lois.

-Morning.

-Morning. Kieran.

'As well as music lessons, I've also started learning Latin.'

SHE SPEAKS LATIN

Hey, Lois.

'My head of year Mrs Tyrell is really nice.'

How are you finding keeping up with the homework?

I find it really hard cos I only really have Sundays,

and I'm sitting at the table dozing off while trying to do homework.

What about the girls that you're hanging out with, though?

-They're nice, are they? Good bunch?

-Yeah.

Do feel that you've got a group that you sort of hang out with

-when you're here?

-Yeah.

I know that I get loads of homework, and I even struggle to do it,

even without doing, like, a big West End musical.

The teachers are being really nice about it.

They're saying I don't need to do the homework,

but if I can, that would be really good.

Do you think, like, after the musical,

-you'll carry on playing the bass?

-Hm...

-Will it become something serious?

-Yeah, I think so.

So, like, is it really fun? So you don't regret anything about it?

If you talk too much and don't obey the chaperones or the directors,

you get kicked out of the show. SHE GASPS

-Have you been kicked...?

-No, I haven't been kicked out!

'Four weeks into rehearsals,

'and we've moved to a much bigger space

'in the middle of London's Theatreland.'

So, it's either going to be pizza or pasta.

Oh, what type of pasta?!

'Justin's one of several chaperones who, as well as ordering lunch,

'makes sure we stick to the legal working hours.'

The children are allowed to rehearse for five hours a day.

They also get an hour's break for lunch,

and they will get two 15 minute breaks -

one in the afternoon and one in the evening,

or one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

-JOANN:

-How good are we going to be?

-Amazing!

-Thank you, Amelia!

That's what I want to hear.

'Today, we're rehearsing one of the biggest scenes in the show,

'and I have a lot of moves to learn.'

Yeah, don't bend over on the "tuh".

One, two, three. Yeah.

And, "tuh". Two.

Can you bend one knee? Boom. Huh! Huh! Huh!

Yes! There we go.

All right, here we go, young actors. Be smart...

..be safe, but be brilliant.

'When we got on stage, we got a little bit confused,

'so we have to ask a lot of questions to JoAnn.

It was pretty hard, but we got there in the end.

'We often rehearse in the evenings.'

One, two, three, four...

# And yet it's all, it's all in vain... #

'I really love drumming. I'm not so keen on singing.

'But in the show, I have to sing a solo.'

# And yet you just keep shutting me out. #

Bailey.

It's all in vain.

It's quite hard to get the clarity on those words,

so you make sure...

# And yet it's all, it's all in vai-ain. #

-IN HIGHER REGISTER:

-# And yet it's all, it's all in vain. #

# And yet it's all, it's all in vai-ain. #

Good, good, good, good. Well done.

There was a few times when I went off.

There was some point in the song where I just went out of tune

and kept forgetting harmonies and stuff.

But then I got a grip.

'At the end of the day, while everyone gets to go home,

'I talk to my mum on my laptop.'

-I miss you so much.

-'I miss you millions.'

'But there's one thing I want to discuss.'

Am I going to spend Christmas here or with you?

'It depends on your performances.

'We might not be able to get you home.

'There's not much transport at Christmas time, is there?

-'Give me a call in the morning, or a text...'

-OK.

-Bye. Love you.

-'Love you millions. Miss you.'

-Mwah!

-'Mwah! Bye, love you!'

-Bye!

'Just, you know, seeing my mum's face is nice.'

I am a little bit emotional, to be honest,

cos, you know, it's hard when you see your parent's face

cos it's like, oh, they're right there!

But, you know, I know I'm going to see her in, like...

..four days! So, you know... And four days goes really quick.

At last, it's time to move to the actual theatre.

ALL: It's the new theatre!

How are you doing?

'That's Laurence who's the director.'

Is the set done?

It's so cool.

Today is the first day of tech,

first time the kids will be on the stage.

Now they have to know everything.

It's, like, the proper stage with the proper audience,

and it's just like this is now our second home

because we're going to be here, like, all the time.

This new kit is rock and roll. It is.

SHE LAUGHS

Go. So it's timed from "go", is when I want you to go, right?

'In this theatre, Laurence is the boss.

'And when he says jump, we jump.'

It feels like we're doing aerobics exercise video.

-The School of Rock!

-Oh!

-OVER SPEAKER:

-Thank you. That's dinner.

THEY CHEER

Guys, the light is really, really good now.

Give some attitude!

'It's publicity day,

and Andrew Lloyd Webber himself joins us all for a photo shoot.'

ALL: School Of Rock!

THEY DO VOCAL WARM-UP

'But there's still lots of work to do,

'and as opening night approaches,

'Fiona, the singing teacher, gives us a group lesson,

'and decides to give me one on my own, too.'

# You know I try, try, try to explain. #

That's "ha, ha" and "try, try, try to explain".

# You know I try, try, try to explain... #

-Good boy.

-# I'm not the kid you want me to be... #

That's it.

# And yet it's all, it's all in vain

# You just don't want to see the real me. #

Make it a little bit more...

Can you sing in an American accent?

-And yet it's "awl". "Awl".

-"Awl".

I mean, I'm Scottish and I sound more American.

-"Awl".

-All.

-"Awl". "Aw", "aw", "aw".

-Drop the jaw.

-"Awl".

-That's better.

-How does that feel?

-Better than when I started it.

I mean, so much better than when you started it.

Sounds better than when you did it five minutes ago.

Drummers who can sing will have great careers.

Yeah?

'School Of Rock is the latest show written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

'He's probably the most famous composer of musicals in the world.'

-How's the weekend been?

-ALL: Good.

-Are you enjoying ourselves?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, great, great, great, great.

-Are you going to ask me some questions?

-Yeah.

When you were our age,

did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up?

When I was about ten,

I used to make my parents and my friends come round

and look at these very, very boring musicals, they must've been,

and I think everybody thought I was a complete idiot.

But that's what I wanted to do!

How do you know what musical to do next?

Oh! Thank you very much. I don't know what I'm going to do next.

We're lucky with School Of Rock because it's a great story.

What advice would you give someone

wanting to audition for School Of Rock?

Obviously you've got to be able to play an instrument

if you're going to go for the band.

But if you want to be in the show, be yourself, be natural.

# Don't just sit and take it. Stick it to the... # Come on!

'That's my little sister, Halley.

'I think she'll be auditioning for the show soon.'

# Rant and rave and scream and shout

# Get all of your aggression out. #

'But even though I'm starring in a West End musical,

'I still have to do homework.'

-You've just got music homework?

-Yeah.

HE HUMS

You like singing now. You didn't even used to like singing at all.

Now you're always singing.

He was, like, saying "I'll do the drumming bit,

"I won't do the singing bit, and I don't do acting."

-Done.

-Finished.

I can see he's tired

and I can see he's got some lines under his eyes

which he never used to have,

but he, in himself... quite resilient.

Good morning, darling.

-I want to go back to bed.

-I know.

-Tired.

-Yeah. Not too tired.

Nearly there.

A few more days.

Last night I finished at ten o'clock,

but then it took, like, half an hour to get home,

so I got home at like around 11:30.

I'll be glad when Lois can actually have some lie-ins.

And get some homework done!

Missing out on homework!

Yes!

OK. So, let's figure this out.

'With time running out and everyone really tired,

'even our director Laurence is feeling the pressure.'

..more time?

Can we have quiet in the house, please? We're going to do this.

We're running out of time. Thank you.

Guys, can we wake up?

Toby, go back to where you were.

But then what?

Guys, please know your lines!

We open, like, in a week. Seriously.

If we don't know our lines now, are we going to look foolish?

Start again.

We are six... Not even six any more.

Five and a half days left until opening.

Well, I think because we're so close to it

and we kept getting stuff wrong,

so I think he was getting really stressed

and saying that we need to focus and stuff.

OK, let's clean this place up. We don't have much time.

I was hoping that we were going to be further along in that session,

and unfortunately...we weren't.

'With the clock ticking, costumes are fitted.

'And the girls' hair is styled.'

Let's look at the back.

Some people have wigs at the end of the show

and they're just trying them on, like, over there.

'Before I started, I thought that I would make no friends,

'I thought that they were all going to be so much better than me,

'I was scared.'

I have these things called worry moments

and I have quite a lot of them.

But before the first day, where I met everyone,

I had a massive one, and I couldn't get to sleep.

I got through it and I made friends, and that really helped me out,

and now I really regret having all of those worries.

OK, well, at least we can get the...

'School Of Rock is really about how music can change your life,

'and I know that it has changed all of ours.'

So, you need to really spit those words out.

This is not supposed to be pretty -

you've really got to direct it out there.

-Who are using into in this?

-Um...

Oh, there's this girl at school...

-Yeah?

-She doesn't listen to me.

-Good!

-Well, it was my old school, so...

-Great!

Well, you see her and you tell her

"I promise one day I'll make you hear." OK?

So this time, you're singing to that girl at school,

so give me some of that fire that I know you've got in there, Lois.

-Where from?

-From "I've got so much inside." Really tell her.

Imagine she's standing there.

-# I've got so much inside... #

-Really tell her.

# If only you would listen

# It's not much I'm asking

# I only want your ears

# But I promise one day I'll make you hear... #

-Tell her again.

-# It's not much I'm asking

# I only want your ear

# And I promise one day

# I'll shake you so damn hard that at last I'll wake you

# Yeah, I promise one day I'll make you hear. #

Much better. How did that feel?

It's better, cos I've actually got something to...

-Focus on.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, exactly.

School Of Rock!

'At last, it's the moment we've all been waiting for -

'the opening night.'

This is when we start finding out if, actually,

it's as good as we think it is.

ALL: # Yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry

# Red lorry, yellow lorry... #

'We do a last-minute warm-up to make sure our voices are in tune.'

'And Laurence gives us some final instructions.'

We have to be so focused, and let's enjoy a paying audience,

and they'll be seeing this show for the very first time.

Have the best time. Focus out there, OK?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm sure you're all going to appreciate

just how much goes into this show.

Just one thing - the children play everything absolutely live.

Everything.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Katie, you're in the band. #

OK...

# Woo! You're in the band. #

Backup singer! Backup singer!

-You all feeling ticked off?

-ALL: Yeah!

Then, what makes you more angry than anything else in the world?!

You, Katie!

-Being...overscheduled!

-Oh!

-# Parents overwork ya

-Stick it to the Man...! #

-What else? Freddie!

-All the pressure!

-All that pressure!

-# Hate the way they jerk ya

-Stick it to the Man!

# Why live your life to someone else's plan?

# Stick it to the Man...! #

Go ahead, all of you. Get something off of your chests.

-ALL: # Stick it to the Man!

-Boom!

# Rock the house and make a scene

# And crank the amps to 17

# And scream until their ears are shot

# They all can kiss your you know what

# Do everything they ever tried to ban

# Stick it to the Man

# Stick it to the Man Stick it to the Man

# Stick it to the Man

# Stick it to the Man! #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The children, the Demon Rascals of Horace Green.

APPLAUSE

Playing bass live all evening, Miss Lois Jenkins!

And on the drums, Mr Bailey Cassell.

THEY CHEER

Oh, my gosh, that was amazing.

I couldn't be more proud. Very happy.

Just watching her the whole time, just worrying for her.

But she was brilliant, and she didn't seem to be nervous,

she seemed to be enjoying it.

All the kids were amazing.

Probably one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

Just seemed surreal. From that baby, to now...

He's doing this! It's amazing.

CROWD CHANTING: School Of Rock! School Of Rock!

Love you lots.

So proud. So, so proud of her. She was unbelievable.

All of them. They were all fantastic.

Can't believe we just did that. It's just...it's amazing.

I'm so proud.

You going to make us cry! Don't make us cry!

Aw, sweetheart!