SCHOOL OF ROCK – thepoint EASTLEIGH until 1st August 2026

Review: Pat Hayward 29th July 2026

It’s that time of year, when the young people of Great Britain take over theatre and underscore why Britain continues to lead the world on-stage, now and more importantly into the future. Nothing could demonstrate this more than the latest trailblazer from Centrestage Productions Youth Theatre at the point Eastleigh – The Next Generation SCHOOL OF ROCK the musical. What Laurence Connor achieved as Director of the original West End production has been blown out of the water by Mike Mullen the director of this production. The energy and the emotions are real and the performances, at every level, leave us in no doubt that this is truly the School Of Rock.

The show is about a layabout, cheating, unprofessional musician, Dewey Finn who assumes the identity of his best friend, teacher, Ned, in order to get his hands on some easy money. He bamboozles Miss Mullins, the Principle of Horace Green, an up-market school, to give him a chance as a stand-in teacher. For the class he has been put in temporary charge of, the curriculum goes out of the window and bedlam ensues. In amongst the chaos he discovers that some of his pupils have a slight interest in music and at that point his whole attitude changes and all his efforts are put into turning his mixed bag of kids into a band – School Of Rock. As you might imagine the journey is not straightforward and overcoming obstacles at every twist and turn becomes as important for the pupils as ensuring the band win recognition in every quarter.

To make this work every conceivable talent is required throughout this show and somehow, yet again, Centrestage have reached into the community and come up trumps. The whole of this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical revolves around the antics of Dewey Finn, who is seldom away from centre-stage. Samuel Fitzsimmons not only takes on the role, within seconds he gets the audience to believe he is Dewey. Seldom do you see an actor slip into character with such ease and that’s not all, at the time of auditions he couldn’t play the guitar, but now he can not only play but he is the leader of the band, incredible.

The whole show is about music, rock music and getting people to recognise the importance of it. In the pit we have a seven piece band, under the direction of Ian Partridge and Rachael Thorpe, that are able to brilliantly play the backing track to the musical. Whilst on-stage Samuel Fitzsimmons leads Jake Stewart as guitarist Zak, Ameile Kenny- Williams as Lawrence on keyboard, Canon Delmege as drummer, Freddy and then there is Lily Betterton as bassist Katie. What a talented group not only musicians but they can act and how!

What makes this production so special is that every member of staff, every parent and most importantly, every pupil are individuals with their own personalities. Not only that, but for once the actors playing the pupils are the right age and not older ones trying to be youngsters. Whilst at the same time the youngsters playing the middle-aged roles are totally believable. In particular Molly Swann as Rosalie (Miss) Mullins shines, especially when Dewey gets her to admit her love for Stevie Nicks. Then there are Dewey’s long suffering landlords, Luke Sharples as Ned Schneebly and Ash Liston as Patty Di Marco, who provide the underlying drama to Dewey’s existence. All in all it’s incredible and probably not something that a professional company could achieve, but Mike Mullen has.

As you might imagine, movement is a very important part of this musical and with such a large cast, of around 40, careful choreography is paramount. Once again Centrestage have the fortune of incredible Choreographer, Summer Hughes responsible for every aspect of movement around the stage and the dance routines involving the entire company are impressive.

With Mayflower Theatre closed for improvements and Mayflower Studios focused on theatre for toddlers I urge anyone missing theatre, musicals and great entertainment to get tickets for School Of Rock at thepoint Eastleigh which is on until Saturday 1^st August. I guarantee that once you’ve sampled a taste of Centrestage Productions Youth Theatre, you will be back for more – which could be Dear Evan Hansen in October, or Disney Newsies in February.