Tag: Broadway

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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?”

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Review: Big Fish on Broadway – appropriate for kids?

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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.

big fish 3

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?”

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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”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?”

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Review: Pippin – appropriate for kids?

pippin poster

With 10 Tony nominations and a positive New York Times review, I was glad I had tickets to see the Pippin revival the day after its official opening. I’ve not seen Pippin before so I can’t compare how this revival is different, though the circus theme is new, and the lead player is a woman instead of a man. And her arms are so buff that Michelle Obama’s look downright flabby in comparison.

pippin leading player

Let’s start with the million dollar question for my family-friendly theater-goers:

Is Pippin appropriate for kids? Continue reading “Review: Pippin – appropriate for kids?”

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Kids’ Night on Broadway 2013 – NYC

 

Kids’ Night on Broadway is coming up soon, February 25- March 3, 2013. That means you can take the kids (ages 6-18) to a Broadway show for free, when you buy a ticket at full price. In addition to discounted shows, you can get discounted meals (kids eat free) and cheaper parking – plus some pre-theater events. Lots of great shows to choose from, including Annie, the Lion King, Wicked, Mary Poppins, Newsies and Mamma Mia.

HOW IT WORKS

You buy a ticket for one of the participating shows (see the list here) and your kid gets in free. Fine print – you buy tickets in pairs of two – one adult, one kid. If you have an extra kid (1 adult 2 kids, or 2 adults 5 kids, etc.) you pay full price for the extra kid’s ticket. All the tickets (in pairs) will print out at 50% off, and you have to pay the fees (ticketmaster, etc.) for each ticket. Make sure to use the link on the Kids’ Night Out website or use the discount code they provide. That’s it!

Tickets go on sale Wednesday, January 9 at 10 a.m. at the KNOB site. If you’re serious about which show you want, get online that second. The tickets go very quickly for the top shows. Know that some shows are only available Monday through Friday night, maybe with a Wednesday matinee – tough if you live further away and you don’t want your child staying up late on a school night. And the weekend shows are the first to sell out. I tried going online for a presale on Friday (if you sign up for the email list, you’ll get on the presale list). I decided not to skip my exercise class and went online an hour after the presale opened. All the tickets I wanted were gone (don’t worry, they open up a new set of tickets for the regular KNOB sale).

The participating shows are not all appropriate for all ages. Avenue Q, for example, I LOVE. But I would not take my kids to see it (they’re 9 and 11). I have no desire to explain drunken hook-ups and puppet sex to them. But you should get a babysitter and go on your own, outside of Kids’ Night on Broadway. Jersey Boys is the same thing. Not appropriate for my kids (I saw it in Vegas) but a fabulous show. They’ll have to wait until they’re older. While my kids have heard the soundtrack for Chicago (over and over and over) – do I want them watching the show? Uh, probably not. So use your own judgment!

 

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Review: Bring it On – the Musical

When we had friends in town who wanted to see a Broadway show, I looked through the list that would be family-friendly (and shows we haven’t already seen). We settled on Bring it On the musical, a Broadway adaption of a movie. I was a little wary about the subject matter, having never been a cheerleader myself, nor having cheerleader aspirations. The show was a lot of fun, though, and taught some good lessons about being true to yourself and being nice to other people.

the countdown before the show was similar to what you’d find in a sports arena

Continue reading “Review: Bring it On – the Musical”

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Review: Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall

I took my 11 year old daughter to see Cirque du Soleil’s Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall this past weekend. The show closes on September 2, so if you’re looking for a show to see soon, go see it. We loved it. (Zarkana heads to Las Vegas next, so you can catch it there. I saw Ka in Las Vegas and loved it. Completely different show and concept).

Zarkana is self-described as an acrobatic rock opera blending circus arts with the surreal. I think that’s a decent description. There are some spoilers in here, so don’t read the review if you want everything to be new and surprising.

They also describe the story this way: “The story follows Zark, a magician who has lost his powers – and the love of his life – in an abandoned theatre populated by a motley collection of off-the-wall characters and incomparable acrobats. He runs into the Mutants, four sirens as sinister as they are fabulous, who are determined to divert him from his quest.” Continue reading “Review: Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall”

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Review: Spiderman on Broadway – Good for Kids?

If you pay attention to Broadway shows, perhaps even if you don’t, you’ve heard about Spiderman – the most expensive show to produce on Broadway, the injuries from flying during previews, criticism of the script and Bono/The Edge music, firing of director Julie Taymor, etc. Reviews of the new production are mediocre, claiming this version of the show is bland, family entertainment (versus Taymor’s artistic version which was darker and didn’t work). And only one person I talked to who had actually seen, it liked it. In fact, she loved it, and said it was the best show she’d ever seen on Broadway. I assumed she didn’t get out much. So this was my mindset going in. I figured my 8 year old son would like it, and my critical 11 year old daughter and I would say, “meh.”

Bottom line: We all loved it.

Continue reading “Review: Spiderman on Broadway – Good for Kids?”

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