Vincent Molden

With back to school season upon us, students young and old are eagerly anticipating their first day of classes. But, for two handfuls of miniature musicians, the major assignment this school year is rocking around the country in the first national tour of SCHOOL OF ROCK, now onstage at the Music Hall at Fair Park, which concludes Dallas Summer Musicals 2017-2018 Broadway series. And even when the star teacher fails to make the grade, the kiddos pull together to ace the group project.

When it comes to seeing a fresh new show with low or even non-existent expectations, nothing is more pleasurable and satisfying than walking out at the end of it with a huge, beaming smile on your face. That was the giddy communal feeling that I and an ecstatic audience experienced recently during the highly enjoyable Orange County opening night performance of SCHOOL OF ROCK - The Musical, the charming 2015 Broadway musical now continuing its national tour stop at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts for two weeks through August 5. While certainly not a groundbreaking, game-changing musical by any means, the nonetheless engaging SCHOOL OF ROCK is a definite crowdpleaser worth checking out. The kids in the show? Spectacular!

SCHOOL OF ROCK is a fleetingly affable evening composed by Lloyd Webber for lyrics by Glenn Slater (Sister Act) and a book by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey). The kids are more than alright, saving the night and earning an 'A' for natural talent and a refreshingly unaffected stage presence.

Rocking performances by super kids and Rob Colletti make the National Tour of SCHOOL OF ROCK a riproaring good time. Now at ASU Gammage through June 24th.

Over time, we have come to a point where the musical theater genre is as identifiable as any other genre. In today's age, we have come full circle in that the line between musical theater and other genres is thinner than ever. Lin Manuel's Hamilton is a perfect example of the next generation of musical theater, as is DCPA's latest touring production, School of Rock

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is pleased to bring the second of two brand new Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals to Orange County: School of Rock - The Musical. Following two weeks of packed houses for Webber's Love Never Dies, this high-octane Broadway and West End hit comes to Segerstrom Hall July 24 - August 5, 2018. This hilarious musical features all the original songs from the 2003 film plus 14 new songs written specially for the show by Andrew Lloyd Webber and musical theater's first-ever all-kids rock band.

As kid musicals go, SCHOOL OF ROCK isn't half bad. It falls somewhere between ANNIE and MATILDA on the Richter scale of stories about downtrodden kids overcoming obstacles to win in the end. It's got enough emotional oomph to tug on your heartstrings and it gives you plenty of reasons to happily cheer the underdogs on. It's also making stars out of its young cast members, right and left.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash hit School of Rock - The Musical will welcome eight new cast members to the national tour on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Rocking their way across the country will be Alyssa Emily Marvin as Marcy, Grier Burke as Tomika, Vincent Molden as Zack, Huxley Westemeier as Billy and Iara Nemirovsky as Summer. Jack Suarez Kimmel, Cameron Trueblood and Jesse Sparks will join the kid's ensemble. Headshots of the newest students at Horace Green can be found here.