“Three thumbs up and a big toe,” declared an exuberant PS 34 student in his review of the Broadway musical “Matilda.”

The 5th-grader-turned-theater-critic offered his opinion as he and his classmates streamed out of the Shubert Theatre with stars in their eyes and a skip in their step after a matinee performance of the hit musical based on the Roald Dahl story. A subway ride from the East Village had brought them to historic Shubert Alley with enough time before the doors opened on Oct. 2 to marvel at the busy streets, rushing pedestrians and hundreds of tourists and New Yorkers gathering in front of the theater and, like them, waiting for the curtain to go up and the magic to begin.

For most of them, it was a first — the first time at a theater and the first time in bustling Times Square. This was exactly what co-teachers Allison DeGrazia and Lacey Borman-Cohen were counting on.

“Class trips are so valuable for children who don’t experience much beyond their own neighborhoods,” DeGrazia explained. “They need to see more of the world than only what is directly around them.”

The experience was also a springboard for what lies ahead for the PS 34 5th-graders over the next 15 weeks — a theater experience of their own, only this time they will be the stars. In the weeks ahead, they will learn to dance and sing on stage — just like the children performing in “Matilda” — and then star in their own show for the whole school.

Professional musicians and performers from Rosie’s Theater Kids, a nonprofit arts education organization dedicated to enriching the lives of students through the arts, will introduce PS 34 students to American musical theater by teaching them the dance routines and songs of the genre for 50 minutes every Friday afternoon, beginning with the free performance of “Matilda.”

“Look at what the actors are doing up there on the stage so you can look just like them when it’s your turn,” DeGrazia had instructed her students.

Thecla Harris, a professional dancer and one of the founders of the nonprofit, has been working with students from PS 34 for 10 years and watching how the experience “changes the trajectory of their lives.”

“I make the lessons as athletic as possible to win the boys over,” she explained. “They don’t know what hit them and, before they realize it, they’re having fun.”

Harris said that even the teachers get on stage and participate, instead of doing paperwork during those Friday afternoons.

Rosie’s programs, Harris said, have touched the lives of 60,000 New York City students from public schools with the highest level of need since 2003. This school year, the program is operating in 17 city schools.

“Even the shy students catch the contagion and get on board,” DeGrazia said.

She credits the program with opening doors, providing new experiences and making students more well-rounded and self-confident.