Brent Hill Is Rocking Just As Hard As The Kids For The Aus Premiere Of 'School Of Rock'

Facing an early challenge to his authority while masquerading as a substitute music teacher, Jack Black’s Dewey Finn whips an a cappella number out of thin air in Richard Linklater’s rabble-rousing musical comedy School Of Rock. “In his heart he knew, the artist must be true, but the legend of the rent was way past due…”

Venting after being chucked out of both his band and his apartment by ex-flatmate and actual fill-in teacher Ned Schneebly - as played by the movie’s writer Mike White - it’s a pivotal moment in getting the already suspicious kids on his side. Having watched the movie ten times or more during prep for his time in the not-entirely-dissimilar hair-metal jukebox musical Rock Of Ages, it’s also the scene that most sticks in the mind of actor, musician and composer Brent Hill. 

He’ll step into Dewey’s frustrated rock star shoes in the Australian premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway and West End-wowing adaptation at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne. “It’s quite difficult to get that out of your subconscious,” he chuckles. “But I have to make it my own, and I do have a lot of help with 14 original songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber. I mean, that part is fundamentally different.”

A fast-rising star in the musical scene, Hill has also toured internationally with Once and gone head-to-head with a giant talking plant in the weird and wonderful Little Shop Of Horrors. The latter attracted the attention of Australia’s main stages, with roles in Eddie Perfect’s Vivid White and Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband following at the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC). And he appeared alongside “the best actor I have ever seen”, Hugo Weaving in Sydney Theatre Company’s (STC) celebrated The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui.

“He’s a master of the craft, and you know how they say, ‘Don’t meet your heroes?’” Hill begins. “Well, I’ve had that experience before and was a little bit more cautious going in this time, but he really blew us all away. He just galvanised the piece and us as a cast, and I’m hoping that after seeing him at work I can do the same kind of thing with the kids on this.”

Of course, they also say you should never work with kids or animals, and while there are none of the latter in School Of Rock, there is a rotating cast of 36 youngsters. Three for each role in Dewey’s class of Battle of the Bands-competing mini rockers he intends to sneak out of school, including bass player Katie (Samantha Zhang, Remy Grunden, Tiana Mirra) and drummer Freddy (Kempton Maloney, Bailey Landeg, Ethan Stephenson).

“They’re actually the main reason I said yes to doing this,” an undaunted Hill insists. “It’s quite a demanding show because we are literally playing live while trying to focus on the lyrics and the melody too, trying to play your guitar correctly and listen to each other as a band and stay connected. There are a lot of spinning plates and the kids change it up every night. They come in with a different energy, and that energy is really useful. For us old-timers, it’s really cool.”

“It’s quite a demanding show because we are literally playing live while trying to focus on the lyrics and the melody too, trying to play your guitar correctly and listen to each other as a band and stay connected."

The buzz from bouncing off of them in rehearsals has been a timely reminder for Hill that it’s ok to be a big kid himself. “The world has taught me that I need to be an adult. You know, mature, but the fact is that I have to remember that freedom you have when you are younger, and that enjoyment of playing, of making silly jokes and not being demonstrative to each other, but just having fun. And you’d think it would be the easiest thing in the world, but it’s actually quite tricky, trying to re-program yourself.”

Hill’s childhood love of musicals was sparked by attending community productions of Grease and – oblivious of his destiny to play put-upon florist Seymour in Dean Bryant’s 2016 production – by watching legendary Muppeteer Frank Oz’ Oscar-nominated adaptation of the Howard Ashman and Alan Menken show Little Shop Of Horrors, itself a spin on a 1960 B-movie by Roger Corman. He was thrilled by Rick Moranis in the role he would one day play, as the huge-in-the-'80s star contended with the mutant plant that terrorises him, as voiced by Levi Stubbs. “It’s excellent,” he recalls. “The music is so incredible.”

He also tips his hat to David King's 2003 production of Andrew Lippa’s musical The Wild Party, based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 epic Jazz Age poem, that he caught at the WA Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) no fewer than three times. It was the show that set his heart on going to WAAPA himself, ultimately leading him to Weber and School Of Rock. “The Wild Party made me think, ‘Wow, this is what musical theatre can be.’ It can be this big, swelling, realistic, earnest thing that can really move people. It was so phenomenal that I thought, ‘Ok, musical theatre, I can do this.’”

Playing Seymour has been a career highlight to date, but it was also a role that required a huge amount of physical stamina. “I’m very grateful to Dean, because that really got me noticed by MTC and STC, and I’m kinda hoping that Little Shop Of Horrors was harder to do because I was never off-stage in act two, but this new gig is kinda similar, with a lot of high energy singing.”

With any luck, the kids will help him out in the energy department, and Hill’s also cycling to rehearsals every day, trying to build up his reserves for the demanding work of the months to come.

He never imagined that his constant re-watching of Jesus Christ Superstar on VHS, “like all the cool kids”, would one day lead him to work with Weber. “It’s still kind of melting my brain. I remember when I first saw it I thought, ‘What is this?’ It was so fantastic, and the music is just so electric, excellent, vibrant and alive. And here I am in his newest show. I’m just so grateful, but it’s also bizarre. I’m kind of like, ‘How?’”

School Of Rock plays from 9 Nov at Her Majesty's Theatre