Catch Nickelodeon's brand-new musical comedy series School of Rock, premiering tonight at 9:30pm ET/PT, right after the 2016 Kids' Choice Awards, only on Nick USA and YTV in Canada!:
From the NY Post:
'School of Rock' star gives Jack Black role a 'surfer dude' swagger
It's been more than 12 years since "School of Rock," the movie starring Jack Black, hit theaters, but the musical comedy is having a sudden comeback.
A Broadway production by Andrew Lloyd Webber opened in December and now Nickelodeon is premiering a TV version of the story, which centers on Dewey Finn, a down-on-his-luck musician who poses as a substitute teacher at a prep school. Taking over the lead role in the series (debuting Saturday at 9:30 p.m.) is Tony Cavalero, a member of LA improv company The Groundlings, who counts Black as one of his idols.
"People have always compared my comedic style to his and say that I sound a lot like him," Cavalero, 32, tells The Post. "But ... I never wanted to imitate him. There's going to be more of a surfer dude to Dewey than in the past. I know Jack loves physical comedy but there’s going to be more physical comedy than we saw in the movie with the character."
In "School of Rock," Dewey uses music to teach his middle-school students about topics like Shakespeare and inspires them to create a secret rock band. Cavalero and the kids play their own instruments and record the songs for each episode — which this season include covers of "What I Like About You" by The Romantics, "Lips Are Movin" by Megan Trainor, "The Kids Are All Right" by The Who, "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister and "Heart Attack" by Demi Lovato. (Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy also guest stars).
"Every song we break down and work with a coach and actually learn because it’s pretty hard to fake that kind of stuff on-camera," he says.
Though Cavalero does not have children of his own (he and his wife, Annie, whom he met at The Groundlings, do have three rescue dogs), he says learning from role models in martial arts and Eagle Scouts as a kid helped him prepare for working with young actors on set every day.
"We really just had fun, that was my end goal before every take," he says. "Without that, improv dies and the scene dies. The kids are such pros that it wasn’t as hard as you would think."
While Cavalero hasn't seen the stage musical yet (he plans to meet the cast when he visits New York next week), he doesn't feel any competition with his Dewey alter-ego.
"The story and the tone of 'School of Rock' is perfect for Broadway and Nickelodeon,” he says, “so the more the merrier."
Also, from CelebSecrets4U.com:
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