Working with large groups of children can be an adventure riddled with moments of immense energy and slight chaos.

Luckily for the Players at Perry-Mansfield, this is exactly the energy and spirit they will need to pull off their most recent production, “School of Rock,” at the recently renovated Julie Harris Theatre when the musical opens on Thursday. 

The story follows washed up guitarist Dewey Finn, who takes to the classroom at the Horace Green Prep School to make ends meet. During the process, he discovers his students’ immense musical talent and subsequently mentors them in an attempt to win a battle of the bands competition.

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The film starred Jack Black, along with Joan Cusack, Mike White and Sarah Silverman. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the on-stage adaptation, which was first performed on Broadway in 2015. The musical score for the stage performance was written by Webber, with lyrics by Glen Slater. 

The Players at Perry-Mansfield have been hard at work since December to make the production happen locally. Janie Christensen, director for “School of Rock,” has been working with the cast on a short timeline since presenting the idea. 

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“I pitched doing this in late December, and by early January, we were auditioning,” Christensen said. “I feel like it has come along really well with good energy, excitement and cooperation.”

Regarding the selection of “School of Rock,” Christensen described how the music in the play stood out to her.

“I loved ‘Stick It To The Man’ and ‘If Only You Would Listen,'” said Christensen, noting that the latter is a real “tear-jerker.” 

“This is a big bite for us,” explained Brad Kindred, chair of the Players at Perry-Mansfield. “This is a big Broadway musical and also an Andrew Lloyd Webber play.

“It’s a community theater so the community is involved and we try to get input from everybody as much as we can and make our decisions from that.”

Assistant Director Abbey Iberg explained that after auditions, there was an incredible energy that was emanating from the potential cast, many of whom were youth from local communities. The selection of the final adult cast revolved around those who could inspire, support and work well with a large group of young people.

Working with so many fledgling performers has been interesting as well, explained Christensen. Owing to her experience as a mother, she was able to transition those skills into inspiring and motivating the large cast of youth while ensuring that the production timeline moved along smoothly. 

“It’s been wonderful and they’ve been really dependable,” she said. “They have come a long way with learning their lines or learning a new instrument or learning the instrument they already knew in a new way. It’s been really fun to see.”

For the children, the experience has been just as magical and, at times, a little bit stressful and tumultuous. 

“It’s been kind of chaotic because there are a ton of kids,” said Lydia Pierce, who plays the role of Freddy. “It has also been really fun because the community is awesome.”

Eden Melvin, who plays Mason, agreed about the challenges, while also explaining that it has been fun to meet other children she did not know while getting to cooperate with them during the production.

“We are silly sometimes but we also manage to get all of our work done in a successful way,” Melvin said.

The youth members of the group, however, were in agreement that the entire experience has been a pleasure as they got to collaborate in such a “fun” production. 

“The kids are telling the story,” Iberg said. “We are asking so many young people to stay focused for so long, and they have done such a great job of that. Asking that of kids is an intimidating thing, but they have handled it really nicely.” 

“We are very cognizant of our kids’ time and of our kids’ ability to understand theater while learning at the same time,” said Chris Walsh, who is playing Dewey in the production.

Many of the kids said their inspiration to perform comes from seeing other productions in the community, including school-based productions within the Steamboat Springs School District, as well as being encouraged and supported by their friends and family members. 

“It is sometimes hard,” said Addison Godley, who plays Zoe. “I think in a short amount of time, we have gone a long way.”

Performances will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Julie Harris Theatre on the Perry Mansfield campus, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $20 for students and $30 for adults. For more information or tickets, go to Perry-Mansfield.org/.

Click here for more images from the “School of Rock” musical.