School of Rock - Ultimate Songwriter Contest has landed

The producers of School of Rock, the Broadway and West End blockbuster musical, are today calling for talented New Zealand kids to seize the chance to write their very own rock song that will be played live in front of the School of Rock audience at The Civic.

Teaming up with Play It Strange - the Mike Chunn trust that nurtures songwriting talent – producers GWB Entertainment are urging Kiwi kids to put pen to paper and come up with a “face melter” to be performed live on stage by the band of child stars touring internationally with the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage spectacular.

Open to school kids nationwide, in years 7 to 13, the winner will not only get to perform their song with the band on 11 September, they will land a day in a professional recording studio and be represented by Play It Strange. This competition is an opportunity for a young NZ songwriter to have their song heard by music and theatre heavyweights, an possibly a dream come true.

Travel and accommodation will be provided for the winner if they live outside of Auckland. The competition closes on Monday 29 July and the winner will be announced on Friday 9 August.

Songs will be submitted online only via the Play It Strange website. For full details and T&Cs, click here

School of Rock producer Torben Brookman of GWB Entertainment says the development of young musicians and music in schools is close to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s heart.

“He will be thrilled to have a new generation of music stars part of School of Rock,” says Mr Brookman.

School of Rock opens at The Civic, Auckland, this September for a strictly limited season. Groupies, rockers, school nerds - anyone with a pulse - are urged to get in quick to secure the best seats at this epic show. Tickets to School of Rock are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

School of Rock follows Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star forced to earn some extra cash by posing as a teacher at a prestigious prep school. But Dewey isn’t going to teach his straight-laced students algebra or arithmetic. Oh no, these kids are going to learn what it takes to become the most awesome rock ‘n’ roll band of all time!

Now he just needs to get his students to the Battle of the Bands, dodging strict teachers and pushy parents on the way to teaching these pint-sized prodigies what it means to truly rock.

With a new score from Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by three-time Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater, and book by Downton Abbey‘s Academy Award-winning Julian Fellowes, SCHOOL OF ROCK features an award-winning cast of 19 adults as well an incredible kids ensemble, rocking out live.

The cast is led by two of Australia’s finest theatre performers: Brent Hill (Best Male Actor in a Musical for School of Rock at Melbourne’s Greenroom Awards) as the cheeky yet charismatic Dewey Finn; and Amy Lehpamer (Beautiful, The Sound of Music) playing opposite him as the strict, conservative high school principal Rosalie Mullins. Together with a rotating cast of 24 kids who play the 12 children in Dewey's class, audiences will be completely blown away when they hear the kids play their musical instruments live in this high-voltage show.

Based on the hit movie, School of Rock – The Musical made its world premiere in December 2015 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, smashing box office records, garnering rave reviews and earning four Tony Award nominations. The West End production opened in November 2016 at the New London Theatre, winning both the 2017 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music, and the 2017 WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Musical. An extensive US national tour was launched in September 2017. It blew minds in Melbourne last summer and most recently in Shanghai.

Produced by Paramount Pictures, the 2003 film was directed by Richard Linklater and starred Jack Black in a career-defining performance, and went on to gross more than $130 million worldwide.

Click here for more details | #SchoolofRockNZ

‘The most enjoyable few hours money can buy’
The Daily Telegraph

‘A triumph for Andrew Lloyd Webber as the king of hit musicals’
Daily Mirror

The show’s producers GWB Entertainment say: "GWB is thrilled to be working with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group to bring one of the greatest new feel-good musicals that has been taking the West End and Broadway by storm to New Zealand. Get ready to rock in September!”

‘You won’t leave without a smile on your face and your kids will love you forever’
THE AGE

‘This is a triumph and guaranteed to uplift in almost every way’
HERALD SUN

‘A big-hearted show. Loud and cheeky, a feel-good experience with a hint of
anarchic wildness’
EVENING STANDARD

School of Rock will ‘stick it to the man’ and blow the roof off
The Civic this September.

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