The Chicago professional regional premiere of the Broadway musical School of Rock will begin a run at Aurora’s Paramount Theatre, with opening night set for April 21.
The popular musical, which plays until June 4, is based on the blockbuster Jack Black film, which led to a 2015 Broadway hit, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Julian Fellowes.
Directed by Trent Stork, School of Rock stars Nick Druzbanski as wannabe-rocker-Dewey Finn-turned-substitute teacher-Ned Schneebly. An audience favorite at Paramount, Druzbanski has graced the stage as both Franz in Rock of Ages and LeFou in Beauty and the Beast.
The show follows Dewey as he pretends to be a teacher to get money, and soon finds his uppity students have the makings of a rock band and he works to get them ready—secretly—for the Battle of the Bands.
A group of seven young performers—each playing their own instruments—also star. They inclide Julia Dale (Katie), Omi Lichtenstein (Summer Hathaway), David Mattle (Freddy Hamilton), Jaxon Mitchell (Billy Sanford), Kayla Norris (Tomika Spencer-Williams), Leighton Tantillo (Lawrence) and Julian Wanderer (Zack Mooneyham).
Jackson Evans (Ned Schneebly), Veronica Garza (Rosalie Mullins), Lucy Godinez (Patti Di Marco) and Mary Robin Roth (Ms. Sheinkopf) also round the cast.
For tickets and more information, visit www.paramountaurora.com.
Photo: Nick Druzbanski (center) with the kid cast of School of Rock, coming to the Paramount Theate. Photo by Amy Nelson
