Review: Something Rotten – appropriate for kids?

You don’t have to be a Broadway junkie or know Shakespeare’s plays by heart to enjoy Something Rotten, but you’ll get more out of it if you do.

Something Rotten on Broadway
Something Rotten on Broadway

Is Something Rotten appropriate for kids? More on that later. First, a little background. This musical comedy is based in the Renaissance, where one of Shakespeare’s playwriting contemporaries is trying to come up a show that will make him famous and well paid. With the help of a “friend” he creates the world’s first musical. Hilarity ensues.

Actually hilarity runs throughout the entire production. Continue reading “Review: Something Rotten – appropriate for kids?”

Review: It’s Only a Play – Appropriate for Kids?

My daughter and I continued our Superbowl Sunday tradition – of going to a Broadway show. This year it was It’s Only a Play, and I fretted a little over whether it was going to be appropriate for my 13 year old. My Zumba, instructor who saw it the weekend before (but after I got tickets) shook her head no and said, “language!” Well if that was it, then I was hopefully okay. More on that later.

its only a play

The plot: A group involved with a Broadway play production gather at the producer’s house for an opening night party, awaiting reviews. The group includes the wealthy producer, the playwright, the playwright’s male best friend who turned down the lead role, the female lead, the director, a critic and the hired coat boy. The play is set in the producer’s upstairs bedroom, while the party goes on behind the scenes.

While you don’t have to be a frequent theater goer to enjoy the play, it really helps a lot if Continue reading “Review: It’s Only a Play – Appropriate for Kids?”

Review: Fuerza Bruta Wayra NYC – Good for Kids?

My husband saw a Fuera Bruta show a few years back and has been telling me I’d love it. It’s a hard show to explain. It’s like a combination of performance art and Cirque du Soleil type acrobatics in the air (though not as technically difficult) but in a club atmosphere. The show goes on above you, to the side of you, behind you…you get the point.

When you enter the theater, the red lights are glowing like in a club, and you just stand there. You do not sit at all during the show, and the staff will move you around depending on what scene is coming up. They’ll use hand motions to move you. Just hang on to those in your party and back up or move to the side – whatever they tell you. It’s not the best place to go if you’re truly claustrophobic.

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In case you’re wondering (I was), Fuerza Bruta Wayra means “brute force wind” and the show was founded in Argentina. The name does help explain why many of the show elements did include wind! The show has live music (mostly drumming) and singing, but no words other than the words of the main song, which basically sounds like a backdrop. There’s no storyline either. It’s like a series of vignettes. Of course you can interpret themes like man’s struggle against the movement of time, or various emotions, or entrapment or whatever you want. I’m not sure what’s behind it, but you can just stand there and enjoy it without reading too much into it.  Continue reading “Review: Fuerza Bruta Wayra NYC – Good for Kids?”

Review: If/Then on Broadway – Appropriate for Kids?

I will admit that the main draw to me getting If/Then on Broadway tickets was to see/hear Idina Menzel perform. And the concept of the show interested me too – a look at one woman’s life depending on which choices she made. Like in the movie Sliding Doors.

if then logo

The gist is that 38 year old Elizabeth moves back to New York City from Phoenix (my hometown – they had a few jokes at the city’s expense). She’s out of a relationship and looking for work. The show goes back and forth between two different scenarios: she takes a job as an urban planner or she takes a job as a professor. She hooks up with a stranger/soldier she meets in the park and gets married and has kids. Or she hooks up with her former best friend, has an abortion, loses him and lives a spinster life for a few years. Continue reading “Review: If/Then on Broadway – Appropriate for Kids?”

Review: Blue Man Group with Kids – Win Tickets

It’s been about 15 years since I saw the Blue Man Group, at a theater in Chicago. I remember the drums and I remember the toilet paper. And I remember changing into my skirt in the front seat of the car ride from Wisconsin to Chicago. And I recalled that the Blue Men’s faces and hands were painted blue. That may have been true. Or perhaps they had some kind of rubbery skin covering like they do now.

—Want to win tickets? Details at the bottom.—-

Well, now I have kids. And Blue Man Group has been performing for 23 years at the same Astor Place Theater in New York City, plus a year at another NYC location, and a year performing as a street act. They  have five permanent shows across the country (Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando, Boston), plus a touring group, plus a Norwegan ship show.

blue man group

I know that not everyone who is blue looks the same, but I could not figure out how they could tell each other apart. They’re around the same size, all wearing the same thing, all covered in their blue skin. And they don’t talk. Or smile. Or laugh. Continue reading “Review: Blue Man Group with Kids – Win Tickets”

Review: Newsies – good for kids?

We were kicking ourselves for not seeing Newsies the musical, when it made its pre-Broadway debut at the Paper Mill Playhouse. And it was the one Broadway show my son wanted to see (not sure why – he doesn’t know the story). I heard good things about it – from adults who went sans children – and was excited to take the kids to a show where boys were the lead. Last time we went to a show, we saw Annie, with all girls. And Billy Elliot – which was mostly girls.

newsies stage

Bottom line: We enjoyed the show, but it didn’t blow us away. The show is high energy with some great dancing and good musical numbers (it won 2012 Tony awards for choreography and musical score).

The story line is a good one for kids. Continue reading “Review: Newsies – good for kids?”

Review: Big Fish on Broadway – appropriate for kids?

big fish 2

When my parents were coming in town, we wanted to find a Broadway show that they would like (my parents don’t always like the same theater), along with my 10 and 12 year old  kids. It was a tough thing to find something that would appeal to everyone. Fortunately for us, Big Fish the musical was beginning its previews, and we went to its second show not knowing virtually anything about it aside from the synopsis we read online (we hadn’t seen the Tim Burton movie).  The show officially opens October 5.

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The plot: The Broadway musical stars Norbert Leo Butz as Edward Bloom (who I last saw in Catch Me if You Can), a father whose big stories border on fantasy and frustrate his son, a realist who wants to understand who his father is. Bobby Steggert stars as his adult son Will Bloom, and Kate Baldwin stars as Edward’s wife Sandra. The show focuses on Edward, and bounces back and forth between his aging self (dying of cancer), and his life leading up to it. He was a big-man-on-campus (or rather a big fish in a small pond – to go with the Big Fish title) growing up in small town Alabama. Everything he did was grand, though not always successful. He made a life for himself, befriending giants, hunting witches, working for the circus, luring fish from the rivers, and living larger than life. Continue reading “Review: Big Fish on Broadway – appropriate for kids?”

Review: Matilda on Broadway – with kids

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I’ve read the book and seen the movie. But when I heard Matilda was coming to Broadway I did not get tickets fast enough. Which is how we ended up in the second to last row of the balcony with scalped (er, tickets from the secondary market. Ours were originally $34, but we bought them for $85 plus a ton of fees).

No worries. We got some exercise going up the stairs, and bonus! There was a bathroom very close by for a quick dash at intermission.

The excellent stage at opening. A view from the second to last row of the balcony. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The excellent stage at opening. A view from the second to last row of the balcony. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

That said, it’s better to have Continue reading “Review: Matilda on Broadway – with kids”

Discount Broadway shows and other Entertainment This Holiday Week…and Going Forward

If you’re looking for kid-friendly Broadway shows to see in the next week, here are some great deals from Goldstar:

cinderella

Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella – tickets are $59.50-66 for July 2-5 shows.

Spider-man Turn off the Dark – tickets are $79-99 for ongoing shows. Read our Broadway Spiderman review here.

spider-man-the-broadway-musical

Field Station: Dinosaurs – Commander’s Pass tickets are $24.50-$29 (normally $34-40 – this includes read our review of Field Station: Dinosaurs here.

Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

The Assembled Parties – okay, not really a family show but if the kids are in camp or you want a date night, see this Tony award winning show for $75 through July 7. It closes later in the month.

Mamma Mia discount tickets are $69-75 for July 2-7 shows. read our Mamma Mia Broadway review here.

 

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Improv for Kids – tickets are free (really!) to $17 depending on the show. Now through August 31.

Review: Annie on Broadway – good for kids?

Annie seems like a rite of passage for kids. I know all the lyrics from the soundtrack, and I know I’m not alone. I remember seeing Annie in middle school in a San Francisco theater, while visiting there as part of a performing arts summer camp. No, I had no illusions I would be a performer, but it was fun anyway. We had dinner in Chinatown and then saw Annie.

annie

So it was exciting to take my kids to see Annie on Broadway, with Jane Lynch (through July 14, 2013) in the role of Miss Hannigan. I told my kids I’d be singing through the whole show, which I sort of was – I lip synced.

After seeing Matilda (review coming soon) and Billy Elliot, it never ceases to amaze me how Continue reading “Review: Annie on Broadway – good for kids?”