Stick it to the fans - School of Rock hits Eastbourne

But for five days the Congress Theatre is Sussex’s unofficial home of hard rock - and it suits it well.

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation of the cult 2003 movie School of Rock is on its first UK tour after a successful four year West End run and has been packing in audiences.

For those of you familiar with the movie, which propelled Jack Black into the major league, it will be familiar - but not identical - territory.

It centres on struggling musician Dewey Finn who, after being unceremoniously dumped by his bandmates and becoming the beneficiary of a series of unexpected events, finds himself in charge of a class of pupils at an expensive private school.

He is utterly unqualified to teach them anything but the ways of rock and roll and so that’s just what he does, with the prospect of competing in a Battle of the Bands eclipsing any inconsequential concerns about academic achievement.

Sir Andrew has written 12 new songs for the production with three taken from the movie - but while the tunes may be different, the energy and huge sense of fun remains true to the original.

In truth, it’s not the kind of show where you emerge whistling the hits - with the exception of the show-stopping Stick It to the Man - and that’s really not the point.

The show is carried along on a wave of joie de vivre which never lets up from beginning to end with a fantastic performance from Finn’s young charges who - as Sir Andrew points out in a recorded introduction - are very much playing their instruments live.

Finn himself is played by Jake Sharp - a pretty good rock and roll name in its own right.

Given the part is so intrinsically linked to Jack White, Sharp does an incredible job of making it his own. It’s even more incredible, given the high-energy nature of the performance, to think he’d be doing it all again a few hours later.

The feelgood factor continues in the final scenes, with the audience actively encouraged to take photos. It’s a far cry from the policy of most big productions and a neat nod to the running anti-establishment theme.

More than anything else, School of Rock is simply a great fun show. It runs until Saturday so if you are looking for something to do with the kids then get ready to rock.

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