Gary Trainor to Take Over Lead Slot as Dewey Finn in London's School of Rock

Gary Trainor will lead the hit West End production of School of Rock as Dewey Finn. Having been the Dewey alternate since the show’s London premiere, he will take over the full-time slot beginning on May 17. Stephen Leask will join the cast as the Dewey alternate. The production plays the New London Theatre.

Trainor’s previous credits include Donnie Kirshner in the West End production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, I Can’t Sing at the London Palladium, Potted Potter at the Garrick Theatre and on tour in the U.S. and Australia, The Shawshank Redemption at Wyndham’s Theatre, Prophecy for The Old Vic New Voices and at the Public Theater, New York, Into The Woods at the Landor Theatre and Jago at the Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh. He has also toured the UK in Buddy, Frankenstein: The Year Without a Summer, Stones in His Pockets and The Oxford Passion.

Leask’s previous credits include Robin Hood at The Egg Theatre, Bath, The Canterbury Tales at The Pantaloons, One Man, Two Guvnors at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, A Little Hotel on the Side for Theatre Royal Bath, The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes at Hoxton Hall, Staunch for Theatre 503, Potted Panto at the Vaudeville Theatre, Newsrevue at the Edinburgh Festival, The Secret Garden for Birmingham Rep and Troilus and Cressida for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In addition to Trainer and Leask, the adult West End cast of School of Rock includes Florence Andrews as Rosalie Mullins, Oliver Jackson as Ned Schneebly and Preeya Kalidas as Patty Di Marco. They are joined on stage at each performance by one of three teams of thirteen young performers who make up Dewey’s band. The adult cast is completed by Jonathan Bourne, Nadeem Crowe, Michelle Francis, Rosanna Hyland, Cassandra McCowan, Joel Montague, Andy Rees, Cameron Sharp, Andrew Spillett, Alex Tomkins and Lucy Vandi and swings, Charlotte Bradford, Jason Denton, Cellen Chugg Jones, Alfie Parker and Tasha Sheridan.

Based on the hit 2003 movie and with a new score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater, School of Rock follows slacker and wannabe rock star Dewey Finn as he turns a class of straight-A 10-year-old students into an ear-popping, riff-scorching, all-conquering rock band. Dewey poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school to make ends meet, and when he discovers his fifth graders’ musical talents, he enlists his class to form a rock group and conquer the Battle of the Bands. As Dewey falls for the beautiful headmistress, can he and his students keep this special assignment secret as they learn to fully embrace the power of rock?

School of Rock features music from the movie, with new music written by Webber with lyrics by Slater and a book by Julian Fellowes. School of Rock is directed by Laurence Connor with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter, set and costume designs by Anna Louizos, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Mick Potter, music supervision by John Rigby with Matt Smith as musical director.