Review: 41134 Heartlake Performance School

Heartlake Performance School is where future star performers take lessons in singing, dancing and acting, and of course, Andrea is a dedicated student there! 
Are you interested in their ballet class or voice lesson? Then why don’t you take a tour of the new school! 

This set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P) of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. 
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.


Box Front

The school building looks enormous! The familiar purple background on the box art is not fully shown because the upper part of the building is partially blocking it! 


Box Back


Box Top

So what’s in the box? Here we go!
There are 8 bags! The first four have the new bag design, but as Laure pointed out in her Roller Coaster set review, TLG must not have quite used up all the bags in the old design bearing higher numbers.

Also in the box are 6 8X16 plates and a bag containing a sticker sheet and two instruction booklets. 

I have never seen this many 8X16 plates in a single color in a Friends set! It is uncommon that a large building of this size does not come with a 16X16 plate!

Here’s what the sticker sheet looks like. 
Some of the stickers are cute, but I’m just not fond of stickers showing objects that should not be flat, like the pitcher and the glasses or the toilet paper.

I saw quite a few Bright Yellow pieces in Bags 1 and 2! This classic yellow color is rather rare in LEGO Friends sets. They must be parts for the school bus! 

Let’s open them!

Contents of Bag 1

Bag 1 has two small bags inside:

Yay!! Two watermelon slices!

Bag 2 is full of pieces in such a sunshiny color! 


Contents of Bag 2

The yellow color on the school bus is used for safety; yellow is a highly visible color and is supposed to get drivers’ attention faster than any other color.

Before building the school bus, let me introduce you to the three characters included in this set.

Here’s Andrea, included in Bag 1.


The Andrea mini-doll is made from existing parts. Her top was first see in 41135 Livi’s Pop Star House released in January 2016.



The other character from Bag 1 is Noah. 
This is his second appearance, and both times he was paired with Andrea. Maybe he’s her biggest fan!

Noah has borrowed Julian’s old zip-up hoodie top (which does not show a hood on the back) from 2014. But his pant mold is brand new this season! 
The slightly wider silhouette is a nice change from Stephanie’s old dark blue capris from 2013.

Bag 2 comes with a brand new character, Iva!
Iva is a rather uncommon name in an English-speaking area where Heartlake City is believed to be. So I figured she was probably named after someone specific, and sure enough, there is indeed someone named Ivana Miklesova on the Friends design team! Iva can be a shortened version of the Slavic name Ivana. 

This brand new character has borrowed her clothes from other mini-dolls, but her wig is quite unique! The hair mold has been used only once before in Dark Orange. 
But Iva is basically Emma with just a new hairdo.

Bag 1 gets you started with a few small builds. They are plain and simple. 


Most of what’s in Bag 1 is used to build part of the school bus.
This is the first Friends bus that seats 5 people!

And Bag 2 completes the bus!
What a cute school bus! It looks perfectly like the American school bus with a hint of LEGO Friends flavor! 

You can easily access the inside of the bus by removing the roof and opening the hinged side. 

Now the bus is complete, let’s move onto the school building! 

Let’s open the next two bags!


Contents of Bag 3



Contents of Bag 4

Some of my favorite elements in Bag 4 are these:

These are nice decorative pieces first seen in 41098 Emma’s Tourist Kiosk.

And here is my very first LEGO hot dog bun!

That color and that slight curve! LEGO food never looked this appetizing!

With the entire contents of Bag 3, the first level of the school building is nearly ready.

Putting the glass pieces into every one of the 20 window frames is rather tedious. 



Bag 4 completes the first level.
What do you think of the school sign?

It looks somewhat empty even though there is a bench, a locker and a cafeteria counter.

Once again, these small builds don’t have much to them. Not very many pieces are used and the designs are not very detailed.

The next 2 bags contain parts for the entire 2nd level.


Contents of Bag 5


Contents of Bag 6

As you see, the second floor is built one side at a time. 
You complete the side with the restroom before you start building the side with the classroom. 



These two separate sections of the second floor are placed on top of the first level.
It looks quite impressive already, doesn’t it?



By the way, if you look closely at the back of the box, the sink in the bathroom is missing a piece and it doesn’t look right. 
But rest assured; you get the piece in the actual model. 

The last two bags seem to have fewer and smaller pieces.

Contents of Bag 7


Contents of Bag 8

These pieces go to the 3rd level of the school building.



This top level of the school house was quite fun to build with a few decorative elements. There are some interesting curvy shapes to build.

The 3rd floor is complete with a piano and a drum set as well as a small dance practice area. 

When the two separate sections of the third level are placed on top of the building, the school is ready to open!




And here’s what the finished product looks like.


And as usual, we get a few extra pieces. There are not as many leftover pieces in this set, though


Let’s follow Andrea and Noah to see what they do at the performance school!
Andrea sings while Noah practices his drums.

They also take a music theory class.

Noah is busy editing music videos and has no idea that Andrea is desperately wishing him gone. 

Let’s head down to the cafeteria for a bite to eat! Noah is getting something that looks like... a red flower sandwich? Or is it a ketchup sandwich?

Andrea enjoys the dance lesson, but she feels she’s just not quite flexible enough! If only she could lift one leg at a time…!

So how did you like Heartlake Performance School? It’s a pretty lovely school isn’t it?



They even give you a ride home! Let’s get on the bus!


As you may be aware, this is the second school in Heartlake City we have seen.
So how do they compare?



Which school do you prefer?

Heartlake Performance School looks big! But since it is not built on any 16X16 plates, the building doesn’t extend far in the back and looks flat when viewed from the side. It doesn’t have very much space on the first level unlike all the other Friends building structures. I guess you could use a couple of your own 16X16 plates to solve the problem! 

I like how tall and wide this building is, and the shape of the building is also nice and unique. Our Heartlake City doesn’t have nearly enough large building, and I think this is a welcome addition!