Hot on the heels of across-the-board A-grade report cards from most New York-based critics, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical School Of Rock announced plans for a West End opening next fall. A U.S. tour is also planned, to begin in the fall of 2017.
“I am thrilled to announce that we are confirming a West End production of School Of Rock – The Musical,” said Lloyd Webber in a release from his publicists. “We have had such a great time in the U.S. staging the world premiere and now that we have opened on Broadway, I am delighted to be focusing on the next chapter in the show’s journey.”
Lloyd Webber and lyricist Glenn Slater wrote the score, and Downton Abbey‘s Julian Fellowes wrote the book for the show, based on the 2003 film about a raffish down-on-his-luck rocker who finds salvation in a class of young prep school students he turns into a hot band. The show, starring Alex Brightman in the role that made a star of Jack Black, was warmly embraced by the New York critics Monday morning and looks like Lloyd Webber’s first hit following a series of misfires including The Woman In White and Love Never Dies, a sequel to The Phantom Of The Opera.
The show is produced on Broadway by Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group with Warner Music Group & Access Industries, The Shubert Organization and The Nederlander Organization. Nina Lannan and Madeleine Lloyd Webber are Executive Producers. No further details about the London production were on offer.
