It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll… just ask Jake Sharp.
Part of his preparation for starring in School Of Rock was to actually train as a teacher – although admittedly that was before he became an actor.
“I trained to be a primary school teacher, way before ever thinking that the stage was me,” said Jake who plays Dewey Finn – the role made famous by Jack Black – when the musical version arrives at His Majesty’s Theatre this week.
“I did three years, qualified, started a job, but knew it wasn’t for me. So, like I said to my family after quitting that job, I was just a method actor but didn’t know it. I did all that training and it may have cost three years’ of tuition fees, but it was all so I could play Dewey Finn.
“I’m Daniel Day Lewis, basically,” he joked.
School Of Rock on stage has more heart than the movie
While Jake has a deep-seated respect for teachers – “teachers should be knighted, in my opinion” – he has no regrets about turning to acting.
Especially not when his career led him to the role of teacher Dewey in School Of Rock, the iconic movie now transformed into a West End hit by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
It follows failed, wannabe rock star Dewey who poses as a substitute teacher in a prestigious school before transforming staid high-performing students into a mind-blowing rock band, second to none.
The tale will be familiar to fans of the film, but the stage version turns it up to 11, said Jake – especially with 14 new songs by Loyd Webber, in addition to the guitar-shredding tunes from the film.
“It’s very much the same story, but the beauty of being slightly elongated as it’s a stage show,” said Jake.
“You get all the same things you get in the movie, so you get to concentrate on Dewey Finn and all of his high jinks, but you also get to concentrate a bit more on the children and their backstories and family life.
“It actually gives it more heart than the movie, because you get to see the stuck-up kind of pressured childhoods they are in and how they react when they get to experience the whirlwind that is Dewey Finn.”
And Jake is a massive fan of the show’s guitar-shredding music.
School Of Rock’s fantastic score is ‘an earworm’
“It’s a fantastic rock score but unfortunately it’s a real earworm, so be prepared to be thinking of nothing else for a few weeks – or in my case, five years. That story with this rock score is brilliant.”
Of course, School Of Rock is synonymous with the irrepressible, high-energy performance of Jack Black who, said Jake, turned out to be an unavoidable influence on his own performance.
“Obviously, I’d seen the movie and I’m a big fan of Jack Black. I originally tried not to do anything that was Jack Black-like, but still found he was part of the performance. He still finds a way to get in there,” said Jake.
“I don’t go out of my way to do it, but you have to have a little nod in it for all the massive fans of the movie.”
Back to that high-energy thing about Dewey Finn – and Jake admits it is a performance that makes massive demands on the actor.
“It’s exhausting but phenomenal. It’s the best experience I have ever had. There’s this slight fear, I guess, that it’s the best part I’ll ever play as I can’t see the day I’ll have a better one,” said Jake.
“Being a larger-than-life, kind of big child, is so much fun to be and actually kind of admirable. He is the way he is and doesn’t care what anyone about him as he has a real passion in his life.”
Incredible moment when young actors play live
The show now touring the UK is exactly the same as the one which played in London, said Jake – who also starred in the West End.
Central to it, though, is the performance of the young actors who play the studious pupils turned face-shredding rock stars.
“I think my favourite bit is right towards the end of the show, with the whole thing building up to the Battle of the Bands. Then there’s that announcement ‘now the School Of Rock’ and everything you hear from that point is just us laying live.
“I have to remind myself every time that we are doing that – myself and the kids. That’s just 10, 11, and 12-year-olds playing live, and me. It’s something that’s never been done before and probably won’t be done again. It’s very special.”
How to get tickets for School Of Rock at HMT
Jake hopes audiences at His Majesty’s will be as blown away by the show during its run, with its message of hope, being yourself, and following your dreams, especially as we come out of the pandemic.
“It doesn’t point and laugh at anyone, it just champions everyone and it’s a love letter to rock music and live music and collaboration and all sorts.”
School Of Rock is at HMT until Saturday February 19. For more information visit aberdeenperformingarts.com
