School of Rock - NSK Musical Theatre Co.
Being my 4th production design, School of Rock was actually quite different to what I am familiar with - and a lot bigger than I expected. The production had over 80 cast members spanning over two casts which called for a big set to match how big this production was going to be! I have always been a huge fan of the movie but definitely fell in love with the musical as well after familiarising myself (despite the repetitive underscore).
Progress
Set Design
School of Rock doesn’t have much source material in terms of set and costumes apart from the movie and original Broadway production. However, the fact that it is set mostly in a historical private school provided a lot of inspiration for the design that was brought to stage. A lot of my set design was inspired by the original Broadway production, but also the architecture and decor used in real historical schools, universities and institutions.
I went with my very easy and cheap theme of having a huge backdrop across the back of the stage. This worked well for the production as most of the scenes took place in the classroom, but for the ones that were set in a different place, I created double sided flats. One side of these flats matched with the classroom and we decorated with posters, awards, and class portraits - they were angled beside the backdrop to create a more 3-dimensional look. The other side of the flats were plain with windows which served their purpose for walls in non-classroom scenes such as the Roadhouse, teacher’s lounge, and school hallway. This worked very well with the cast moving them during scene transitions.
The production would be nothing without the moveable props and set pieces, especially in the classroom scenes. For the transitions here we used a desk and blackboard to conceal the instruments. The blackboard was double-sided as it turned to a backdrop for the band behind Freddie. We additionally had a sofa, shared between Ned and Patty and the teacher’s lounge, and a kitchenette used by both the teachers and parents. Other set pieces used to bring the scenes to life were the Roadhouse bar (decorated by the cast) and importantly - Dewey’s bedroom, which was entirely on wheels
Costumes
There isn’t too much to be said about the costumes in this show apart from the fact that there are a lotttt of them. I was tasked with creating probably over 100 costumes for this production (I never counted). And although it was hard, it was great to finally see it all come together with the cast embodying their characters.
In most other productions, Horace Green uniforms are usually maroon or grey - however, since the school is named Horace GREEN, I thought I would incorporate some green into their uniforms! I gave some students green vests or sweaters, and others wore maroon blazers. To tie them together, the girls had maroon skirts with some green tartan detailing while the boys wore grey pants. To really contrast the uniforms, Principal Rosalie Mullins’ colour palette consisted of blues, purples, and black. Rosalie’s opening outfit stood out but also seemed perfect as she too was wearing tartan, but in shades of blue and black.
Since Horace Green is a private school the teachers must look prim and proper, as well as the wealthy parents of the children who attend the school. This is not only to match the values of the prep school, but most importantly to contrast Dewey Finn’s sloppy presentation. I made sure he stood out against everyone else, using mismatched colors and patterns of brown, yellow, orange, blue, and purple, along with him wearing sneakers throughout the duration of the show. This also drew a good contrast to Ned and Patty, who each had their own respective and established styles as characters.
