(upbeat music)
- Rob Coletti is starring as wanna-be rock star
Dewey Finn in the first national tour of
School of Rock The Musical which launches this fall.
Coletti recently stopped by our studio in Times Square
to talk about taking on the role
and why people should be psyched to see this show.
Rob, thank you so much for joining us.
I'm so excited to chat with you
- Thank you for having me.
- So I want to jump right into it.
What was it like?
How did you react when you found out that you would
be leading the first national tour
- Oh man. (laughs) of School of Rock?
- I screamed, really loud.
I was trying to talk myself
into accepting an understudy role, you know?
It was a huge, huge surprise
and a really, really bright spot in the year, for sure.
- Yeah, it's an incredible opportunity.
How familiar were you with the movie or the show itself
before you became involved?
- Well I never saw the Broadway show.
I'd seen the movie years ago.
And obviously, it's a great movie.
But yeah I'd really never actually seen the Broadway show
I haven't been in New York,
for the last couple years I've been in L.A.
- Okay. - But yeah,
no so I hadn't gotten to see it
before the audition process.
- Gotcha.
Have you seen it since?
- I did.
They sent me to see the show after my final callback.
- That's a good start.
- Right, yeah. Yeah.
- What did you think about it?
What do you enjoy most about it?
- Actually, the best part about the show, the Broadway show,
is that it's more about the kids, then the movie is.
The movie is about the Jack Black character, Dewey Finn,
and he's incredible, and obviously the movie is iconic
and all of that.
But, the story for the children is really elevated
in this story, and, obviously, the big finale
that occurs at the end
when they all play together is super magical.
But when the stakes are lifted for them,
that's really what sells, I think, the show over the movie.
In my opinion, I prefer the play.
I mean, I'm biased.
- And like when those kids, we were talking earlier,
the kids that they find for this production,
are insanely talented--
- Outrageous.
- and you can feel the audience all leaning
forward in their seats and they've all got something to do.
They're like rooting for these kids,
but they're super talented.
- [Rob] No, 100%.
They play everything themselves,
It's like, it blows you out of the water.
witnessing that, live, and in person is like literally
before being a preteen, they are better at instruments
than I was at playing video games when I was their age.
It's crazy.
- I want to talk about this role of Dewey Finn a little bit.
What excites you most about playing Dewey
and how much of Rob is in this version of Dewey?
- [Rob] A lot. (laughs)
I mean, the role of Dewey is clearly one
of the most fun roles, I think, right now on Broadway.
So like that alone is super exciting, but I don't know.
There clearly are a lot of similarities
in the physical appearance, but no I mean,
he is a good-hearted well-meaning individual
who just kind of makes a bad decision that actually
ends up doing some good for everyone.
And works out well in the end for him,
but it could potentially have been worse
and playing this role of someone who has such high stakes
to balance on is an unbelievable privilege.
I can't believe they're letting me do it.
- Right.
No totally, and I find Dewey's hero's journey
just one of the most endearing and relatable,
because he's just this guy who has a dream.
He wants to do something big,
and he finds his way through it.
Is that fun to play?
I mean, you just have the whole audience rooting for you
the whole time, they're on your side.
- And it would be very easy too,
to have them kind of root against him
because some of the things
he does are a little questionable, morally.
But yeah no he clearly is kind of this
embodiment of the side of ourselves that I think
we kind of try to push away as we get older.
And one of the really wonderful traits that he possesses
is his ability to kind of remain a kid in adulthood.
And I think all of us, the older audience members
who see the show, want to be part of our youth again
in a way, and that alone makes him very, very relatable.
- Totally.
And I don't need to tell you this,
but this role is non-stop.
I mean, it's just.
It has to be absolutely exhausting.
How do you even prepare for something like that,
while taking care of yourself in the meantime?
- Well, I drink a lot of water.
And I steam every morning
and every night before I go to bed.
But yeah, I mean, also, well, coffee.
- Yeah, I mean, the energy.
But just the how do you keep it up?
How do you--
- Well, really, the kids.
They bring so much energy.
Like, they do a 45 minute warmup every day.
And it's like they don't stop bouncing across the room,
jumping jacks and laps and burpees and all of this stuff,
and at the end, they're like still bouncing off the walls.
And just seeing that, you can't not feed off of that energy.
You know? - Right.
You feel like you need to come up to meet them.
- Right, totally, absolutely.
- Is there a particular moment or a particular song
that you're working on right now
that you are just really having fun with,
that you're excited for people to see?
- [Rob] Yeah, "You're In The Band" is like
watching these kids
kind of start being all stiff and like not really
understand how they're having this opportunity to have fun
in a classroom and then slowly open up
and at the end, this, like, big harmony build occurs
and the whole audience--
- Gives me chills just
thinking about it - I know.
It's incredible, and they're kids.
That's what really pulls you in.
And you said before,
people are sitting forward in their seats.
You can't not feel their energy and want to attach
to the journey that they're going on.
And that song is like the launching pad for it.
- And this show, it's such a big hit.
People love it.
What about it do you think makes it so successful,
and makes people so enthusiastic about it?
No one walks away from the show without saying
"I had the best time in there."
- Right.
- Where do you think that--
- I keep coming back to the kids.
But truly like this, in my humble opinion,
is Andrew Lloyd Webber's best score since like
Phantom of the Opera.
- Yeah. - Truly.
Like, obviously, the song from the movie
that exists is great, but so many of the other things
that have been added since are like infectious.
And I caught myself singing things
that I didn't know the words to, just the melodies,
looped in my head for days after I saw it.
So the music is definitely at the core of that,
and obviously like again the children being the focus
of this story, as opposed to Dewey being the only person
that you're kind of focused on, really elevates the stakes
and the journey and your wanting to witness it.
- Absolutely. - Yeah.
- Being part of a touring production, super exciting,
you get to go all across the country.
What, besides doing the show in cities everywhere,
what excites you most about going on this adventure?
What are you excited to do while you go across
this great nation of ours?
- Yeah, oh man I don't know.
I toured before with The Book of Mormon, which was a blast,
but we actually, that tour was a lot of sitting
in a specific city for extended periods of time.
This, we really, like bounce around quite a bit
and we're going to be able to bring it to more people
which is super exciting.
I guess, I'm most excited to reach more areas--
- Yeah.
- And see places that I haven't gotten to see yet.
We go to Chicago, which is my hometown,
I'm really excited to play in Chicago.
And yeah the whole West Coast again, it's just so beautiful.
Yeah, I'll definitely take some time
to do a little sight-seeing while I'm out there.
- You got to, you have to.
And as people look at what shows are coming to their cities,
as they're thinking about what to subscribe to,
why do you hope people will look out for and buy tickets
to School of Rock.
Why do you hope they'll come and see you guys?
- I mean it's just like a great reminder
of the power of art and music.
And how it's so easy for us to get lost
in our day-to-day lives
and overlook the things that affect us internally,
and kind of like get lost in the noise of this day
and age where all of these really strange things
are happening around us and, you know, if you see this show,
you're going to leave uplifted.
That is really the most effectual trait, quality,
of this play.
It really, really moves people.
I mean, I saw it on a weeknight and the house was full,
and everyone at the end was up
and leaving with glowing smiles on their faces.
It's just unbelievably uplifting.
- Yeah.
- So make sure they go check it out for themselves.
- Yeah, do not, do not miss it.
You can't.
It's so good.
- It's one of the big ones.
Rob, thanks so much for joining us.
Hope people go see School of Rock on the road.
- Yeah, of course.
Yeah, please come see us.