Calgary kids shred Storybook Theatre’s “School of Rock”

School of Rock is at StoryBook theatre this month. The now classic Jack Black movie about a woefully unqualified imposter who lands a teaching gig at a prestigious private school has been translated into a musical for the stage.

The stage version takes the focus off of the central character of Dewey Fee and refocuses it on the students whose talents exceed his own.

”Its really focused more on the kids than the Jack Black character,” director-choreographer Stephan Dickson explains. “No one’s a villain in this show. Everybody’s looking for everybody to succeed — just in different ways. Sometimes it’s nice to stop and listen.”

Focusing on youth talents is the modus operandi for StoryBook Theatre — making it the perfect company to bring it to stage. While the choreography has plenty of air guitar — the riffs and drum solos are real and live — performed by the kids in the cast.

Dickson says he came in to the production with choreography in mind but invited the cast to collaborate on the final product, bringing in inspiration from their own research into rock and roll; that includes moves from Hendrix,  Elton John, Mick Jagger and of course, Taylor Swift.

“If it’s only told from my perspective, it’s not going to be a very interesting musical,” he adds.

That freedom pays off; two young sisters in the cast — Aneeqa Rajabali and Eshiqa Rajabali ended up creating one of the show’s best-received moments.

“They were messing around during a break,” Dickson laughs. “I said, ‘Can you bring that to what we were doing and make it your own?’ It gets a great response — and it suited them more.”

While this show is all rock for Dickson, in just a few weeks time he will transition to disco, as he directs and choreographs Sister Act at Stage West.

School of Rock is at StoryBook theatre through Nov. 1.

More information can be found www.storybooktheatre.org