Class is in session for rock music education

ALEX AGUILAR

Children’s Theatre of Charlotte presents "School of Rock the Musical" through Oct. 20.

The School of Rock has taken the  stage.

Children's Theatre of Charlotte launched its new season with “School of Rock the Musical” on Sept. 20. The production, which runs through Oct. 20, is based on the 2003 movie with a music score by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and intended for audiences ages 7 and up. The production includes some adult language and content.

The musical features 13 young performers, including four who play live music along with their acting roles. There are 14 professional adult actors.

The show highlights moments in school when students come to terms with their identity and confidence on campus, transporting the audience to a world where concert and classroom blend.

“This show illustrates the conflict that exists in our world between the pressure that we, as adults, place on children to ‘succeed’ and the deep need of those children to push back and re-define what success looks like for themselves,” said Adam Burke, CTC’s artistic director and the production’s director.

“These two worlds speak very little to each other visually,” said scenic designer Tom Burch, “so instead of trying to bounce back and forth between them, we needed to find a balance that let the two worlds live together. So, we borrowed the truss work from rock concerts, the chalkboards and the crown molding from a New England boarding school that was founded in the late 1800s, and then used a blow-up of a uniform plaid splayed across the floor.

“What I hope the audience comes away with is a better understanding of how the world needs both the structure and pattern of a school and the freedom and expressiveness of rock in each of our lives.”

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