Does School of Rock get an A from the critics?

Michael Coveney, WhatsOnStage

★★★★

"It's like Matilda with attitude, more teachers and better songs."

"Where on earth do they find these young ten-to-twelve year-olds who sing like Aretha Franklin and play drums and guitar like Buddy Rich and Eric Clapton?"

"Alex Brightman… is simply sensational in the Jack Black role, exactly like Black, but also not, truly original with similar stubble and charisma."

Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania

"This whimsically implausible romp is set to Lloyd Webber's hit-or-miss music… Lloyd Webber is arguably the most successful living musical-theater artist, but that isn't quite on display here, considering that many of his songs resemble a cell phone ringtone."

"Luckily, School of Rock has a supercharged cast to transform this leaden material into musical-comedy gold. Bobbie Mackenzie astounds us as the big-voiced Tomika. Isabella Russo is like General Patton in Mary Janes as band manager Summer. The standout musician of the group is Brandon Niederauer, who plays lead guitarist Zack."

"Of course, a show like this is only as good as its leading man. School of Rock has an unqualified star in Alex Brightman."

Alexis Soloski, The Guardian

★★★

"Things perk up when the younger cast members finally get a chance to sing and play, beginning with the gently rollicking You’re in the Band. The children are universally adorable and several of them are staggeringly accomplished musicians."

"The movie worked as well as it did because Black has an unlikely, ungovernable, unbottle-able charisma. Mr Brightman is merely quite likeable, which makes it harder to invest in a loser like Dewey."

"Slater’s lyrics are serviceable as is Fellowes’s book, though it would be helped by more of his cutting wit. School of Rock lacks for some of the mayhem of Matilda, the dash of Spring Awakening, the pathos of Billy Elliot. It wants to please and please it does. But rock it doesn’t."

Ben Brantley, New York Times

"For its first half, at least, it charmingly walks the line between the cute and the precious, the sentimental and the saccharine. Think of it as an alternative for parents who feel that Matilda the Musical… has too many dark corners for their impressionable progeny."

"The children and Dewey’s ensemble anthem, "Stick It to the Man," is a cynicism-proof showstopper. So is the title song, adapted from Mike White and Sammy James Jr.’s original number from the movie. Mr Lloyd Webber chucklingly sends up his usual gothic plushiness, with thundering organ chords that banish, instead of summon, grotesque phantoms."

"Family audiences should be grateful for a Lloyd Webber show that only wants to have fun and hopes that you do, too."

Marilyn Stasio, Variety

"While paying his respects to that manic role model, Alex Brightman maintains his own appealing brand of scruffy charm as Dewey Finn, amiably ceding the spotlight to a cast of super-talented kids who rock out on the kind of songs you always wished had been in the movie."

"One by one, the sensational young superstars step forward: Zach (Brandon Niederauer), the amazing lead guitarist; Katie (Evie Dolan), the little darling rocking that big, bad, black bass; Freddy (Dante Melucci), the kid tearing up the drum set."

"Anna Louizos should take a bow for the costumes she’s designed for this band contest — understated, but amusing variations on the kids’ school uniforms. And Josh Marquette deserves a special ovation for the shark teeth and other clever hair styles."

Michael Dale Broadway World

"School of Rock is a big, beautiful blast of musical comedy from start to finish."

"Dante Melucci gets the audience going with his slamming drumming but the jaw-dropping moment comes when Bobbi Mackenzie, as the shy Tomika, lets out a mature and sensitively textured vocal of "Amazing Grace"."

"If the book has moments that defy logic a bit, and if some of the smaller roles are a bit clichéd, the musical's exuberant score and meaningful theme of finding your soul through the arts glosses over any weak spots. School of Rock is a great night out."

School of Rock – The Musical runs on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York.