Lazy train

Touring ‘School of Rock’ rolls at times, but too many aspects of family-friendly musical are lackluster

In 2003, it became clear why actor-musician Jack Black was put on this earth: to star in the musically charged comedy “School of Rock.”

Black is perfect for the Richard Linklater-directed film, which sees a guitarist named Dewey Finn — after being kicked out of his band but refusing to give up his rock-star dreams — turn a substitute-teaching job into the recruitment of a band composed of fourthgraders and himself.

Perhaps that explains why Gary Trainor seems so content with aping what Black did on screen in his own portrayal of Dewey in the touring production of the stage musical “School of Rock” that has just begun a run at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. While often quite entertaining, Trainor’s effort in the show is largely Black-ish. (It should be noted Trainor is filling in for Merritt David Janes, who is on vacation for the first two week’s of the show’s Cleveland run, according to Playhouse Square.)

That contributes to an overall sense that “School of Rock — The Musical” is, at least as far as shows in Playhouse Square’s Broadway Series go, second-rate.

It’s Whitesnake, not Led Zeppelin.

With a book by “Downton Abbey” mastermind Julian Fellowes, music by musicaltheater heavyweight Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Glenn Slater — Webber’s collaborator on “The Phantom of the Opera” and its sequel, “Love Never Dies” — “School of Rock” certainly has a solid-enough creative team behind it. You couldn’t help but have reasonably high expectations.

Following the storyline of the film pretty closely, “School of Rock” begins with Dewey being kicked out of local rock band No Vacancy — for his behavior and apparently the fact that the schlubby gent doesn’t match the rock sleekness the other members possess. (He is replaced by a doubleneck guitar player name Snake, if that helps paint the picture.)

Meanwhile, Patty (Madison Micucci), the demanding girlfriend of Dewey’s roommate, Ned Schneebly (Layne Roate), is insisting Dewey pay his overdue share of the rent.

“I am sick and tired of being the guy people come to for money I owe them,” Dewey complains.

Alone in the apartment, Dewey takes a call from the principal of a private school offering a lucrative substituting gig to Ned. Dewey, seeing a way finally to make some money, decides he will impersonate Ned and take the job — a plan especially fraught with potential problems considering he can’t even correctly spell Schneebly on the classroom chalkboard.

Still, he gets away with the ruse, at least long enough to use a significant amount of classroom time to teach kids rock instruments such as electric guitar, bass and keyboards. He does so after witnessing a music class that suggests at least some of the kids are musically gifted. He begins to create a band with the students, making other children backup singers. Furthermore, he makes the no-nonsense, goal-driven Summer (Sami Bray) — who alerts him early on that her parents don’t pay the school $50,000 per year for all-day recess — the band’s manager after hearing her butcher “Memory” from Webber’s musical “Cats.”

“I don’t know what that is,” Dewey says, “and I never want to hear it again.”

(Kudos to Webber for keeping that moment from the film after buying the rights to a stage adaptation.)

Dewey plans to enter his new band in a big battle of the bands, an event No Vacancy will play with Snake. There will be many obstacles to that happening, though, starting with the aforementioned principal, Rosalie (Lexie Dorsett Sharp). Rosalie is strict and proper — very much the leader of a private school for the wealthy — but she’s got a bit of rock ‘n’ roll in her own past, and Dewey just may be able to melt her heart.

So much of “School of Rock” — or at least this production — simply is underwhelming.

The classic-rock-inspired songs fall in line with much of the less-memorable material from Webber’s lengthy career. Don’t expect them to stick with you for long.

And then there’s the scenic designer Anna Louizos (who also designed the costumes). As the show shifts back and forth from the two key settings of the school, the school and the apartment, nothing stands out as impressive. It doesn’t help that during the performance March 6 a problem with the movement of a set piece stopped the show, mid scene, for a few minutes. (Yikes.)

The charitable take on this show is that it’s largely family-friendly — there is the lightest use of profanity — and it’s chock full of cute, talented kids. It’s great fun, for instance, to watch LeAnne Parks, as bass-playing Katie, hold an instrument that’s almost as long as she is tall as if she means some serious musical business.

And while the repeated number “Stick It to the Man” is no great shakes, the way the kids execute the choreography of JoAnn M. Hunter — especially in the first performance of the song, in the classroom — will put a smile on your face.

Lastly, by playing it safe — in borrowing so liberally from Black’s work in the movie — Trainor puts in a night of amusing work. Most of his laugh lines land, and the character’s passion for rock ‘n’ roll resonates.

Still, even as a Cleveland audience ate up the show’s final moments — performances at the battle of the bands — you couldn’t help feel “School of Rock” earned, at best, a B-.

EVAN ZIMMERMAN LeAnne Parks and Merritt David Janes perform in the touring “School of Rock — The Musical.” For the first two weeks of the run at Playhouse Square, the lead role of Dewey, typically played by Janes, will be handled by Gary Trainor and others.