It was a night to thrust your metal horns upwards, slap on your best bass face and blaze out the wildest power chords on your air guitar because the Bruyère Foundation was taking you to school…the School of Rock!
Oh yeah, this would be the perfect time to wail out a "Yaaaaahhhh!!!!" as loud as you can or insert a thunderous drum solo. Go on, I’ll wait.
Ok, thoroughly rockin’? Awesome sauce, you may proceed!
Moving and shaking with the movers and shakers of Ottawa, the Foundation’s signature event Broadway for Bruyère started the party inside Elgin Street's Performance Court. Karen Wood’s Knock On Wood helped produce another phenomenal gala that put a cymbal smash on the word fun! Guests sampled bits and bites from celebrity chefs like Steph Legari and Coconut Lagoon’s Joe Thottungal while TopShelf and Beaus poured the libations.
DJ Andrew Carter spun classic tunes with many channeling their inner rocker to dance around décor that highlighted the musical main event to come. Though the theme had shifted from last year’s Motown boogie to an all out rock fest that plugged in and amped up for the smash hit musical School of Rock, the event was just as packed with Bruyère supporters. With over 2,000 employees and 600 volunteers, the foundation continues to follow the vision of Mother Élisabeth Bruyère in providing health care and services for the vulnerable and medically complex, with a focus on persons who require sub-acute, geriatric or palliative care.
Perhaps a tinge of nostalgia washed over guests as they loaded into school buses for the short jump to the NAC. School was in and this class was in session for headmaster Andrew Lloyd Webber’s take on the 2003 Richard Linklater flick staring Jack Black. While the legendary composer has shown he can pick the next Broadway smash, School of Rock was actually discovered by his wife Madeleine. After falling for the charm of the film –based itself on the Paul Green School of Rock Music in Philadelphia–, she scooped up the stage rights in 2012.
“We’re so excited to partner with School of Rock, a really fun show for all ages,” Bruyère’s Peggy Taillon told the Ottawa Business Journal later in the evening. “Talk about (something) magical and inter-generational coming together to support a real important place in this community.”
The show was introduced by Lloyd Webber himself (in voice, at least), informing everyone that if you thought the young cast didn’t play their own instruments you had best change your tune. Why make such a disclaimer? Once you see Leanne Parks blaze on the bass, the aptly named Mystic Inschol thrash a guitar solo and Cameron Trueblood beat on the skins with the force of a cross-fire hurricane, you’d have to admit it’s pretty damn unbelievable. Then you’re going to want to pick up your jaw.
Highlights of the show include “You’re in the Band” and “Stick it to the Man”. It's not surprising that these feature the students. Rob Colletti’s Dewey and Lexie Dorsett Sharp Principal Rosalie do hold down their own next to the pint-sized rock stars, however. Sharp beams on her powerful solo outing “Where Did the Rock Go?” and Colletti mixes the right notes of comedy alongside with his glam vocals.
After the show, the cast joined Bruyère for an After Class party. There was still a lot of energy left in the kids considering they had just put on a Broadway show. They hit the dance floor harder than anybody in that room, stopping only few a few moments to show a few adults how to do The Floss. Others started an impromptu jam session with the Orleans School of Rock whose students were putting on their own showcase of musicianship in the NAC lobby.
While usually it’s a song that is the highlight of these mammoth productions, School of Rock’s centrepiece is in the message, one that is all about child empowerment. In a time where many kids walk through metal detectors to get to class, where hours of time spent in the glow of screen is companionship, where they are over planned, overprotected and helicoptered from all sides, this show thrives not just to have the music heard…but the young voices themselves pleading “If Only You Would Listen”.
Let them speak. Let them shine. LET THEM ROCK!!!
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