Elfknitter.# Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Plays, musicals, the theater...? I got free tickets to Peter and the Starcatchers in July and dd loved it. So for her August bday, I took her to see Phatom of the Opera. She loved it. I loved taking her. Musicals and theater do not interest dh. Now she wants to see Lion King, and I'll probably take my mom along, too. The show arrives in October, which is in time for my mom's bday. So it go me thinking, what shows have the hive taken their larvae to? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes, our local children's theater tickets run about $15-$25 per ticket normally, but they allow homeschoolers to go with the daytime school performances at a $6 rate, so we have often gone through the years. However, last year and this year, the plays have been more and more catered to a younger audience, so we haven't gone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Goodness, yes! DD has been to a stylized Hamlet production and Because of Winn Dixie (school field trip). Both she and DS have also been to several children's theater productions like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They've been to the Nutcracker a few times too. Teaching theater manners is no different than table manners. My peeps may be wild at home but they clean up nicely! ETA: The Lion King is awesome in person. You'll love it! I'd forgotten that we saw that one when it was in town. DD, lucky girl, got to see it with SIL in NYC. She doesn't remember when we took her as a 'treat' before the baby scene-stealer arrived. :lol: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 We would like to, but much is out of our budget with costs around here and so many kids. Instead, we have them performing in the arts and they get exposure through those opportunities. Ideally I'd love us to have year passes to the PAC. Maybe it will end up as one of those things added to our list of wants when we get a raise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Oldest ds used to be in an amateur theater group, so we took the family to see him in almost everything he was in for four years. Other than that we don't go to professional theater productions much because of the exorbitant cost. Plus, my boys aren't all that thrilled with musical plays. But we do go to some things for which we can get a good deal on tickets. The last event we went to was our local symphony playing John Williams music. They loved that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I would if I had the budget. I used to take the kids to more live performances than I do now. I don't because it's not really in the budget to do regularly and my kids are now older. There's only one left I plan entertainment for so much--my ds who is 13 and had down syndrome. Not far from where I live there is a professional children's theater. They put on shows with professional actors in a fantastic theater facility. They built their own theater so, there is a room on one side of the seating that is glass and sound proof. If your child has behavior that warrants removal you can go there until he regains composure and you don't have to miss the show. I think I used it once when my 13 yo was an infant and dd was 4-5, I don't remember if my older son was with us for that show. We went back there many times because the acting and shows were so good. I remember sitting in one of those shows and noticing how all the props were used to represent things and wondering is my 4 year old understood what was happening. Then at intermission she commented about how the long sheets of fabric made pretty waves for the ocean in the story--so, yeah she got it, And her imagination is better than mine so her experience may be deeper. I have taken my kids to Big Apple Circus, which I think is a great place to start with really little ones on practicing good theater behavior. It is small and has one ring. It's a circus, so if you veer from "good theater behavior" you don't necessarily need to leave, but I absolutely encourage good theater behavior because it's nice to everyone around us. Our live performance opportunities that are "in budget" now tend to be high school shows and community theater. We are lucky. Two local high schools have good theater programs and our community theater is good too. Our community theater usually puts on one show a year that is family oriented. They perform in a really nice small theater with great lighting and sound--it is a venue that small touring groups like because it has all the tech things a professional show would have in small package. Anyway, I don't think families should wait to take dc to live theater. There are opportunities for small children. In seeking out those opportunities you can establish good behavior and see good shows and determine if you are ready for bigger stuff. You don't have to wait for touring companies of Broadway shows to enjoy theater either, although if you can afford it go. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 We've been to some performances. We used to go to more, when kids' theater productions were appropriate - because they are much less expensive. My daughter has seen The Nutcracker done by a professional company, and we have been twice to the American Shakespeare Center to see plays. But my kids are near adults now so we expect them to be able to sit through a performance. :-) My husband and I dislike most musicals so we've never taken the kids to a Broadway (or Broadway type) show. I should try to find something in New York since we live so close. I can't imagine the expense of a Broadway show! I've never checked but I can imagine :svengo: I do think it's a valuable experience so am glad for the opportunities we've had. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Oh my gosh yes. We go to tons of theater and performing arts stuff. From traveling Broadway shows to our local fringe to community theater to our local professional companies. We live in a big performing arts community and both my kids do performing arts, so that doesn't hurt either. I've been to like 5 different shows in the last month so I won't start listing what we've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes and I wish we had done more. My kids loved them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Uh, yes. Dd believes I should spend all of my pocket money taking her to ballets. Or the orchestra. Or to the opera. I do my best. :) I got cheap tickets to the orchestra for next week to hear Mozart, I think. We saw Midsummer Nights Dream at the ballet a few months back and in November we're going to see some Australian outback story sung in Italian, because I really need to see that. I've stopped taking her to kiddie shows for the most part. They've become kind of twaddle. They're not necessarily bad or anything, but if I'm going to spend money I'd like to enjoy it too. I think dd was born loving this stuff. We went to a student performance of the orchestra with our playgroup when she was 8 months old and she stared at it for 45mins straight before she finally nodded off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Not so much. I grew up doing those kinds of things and loved that, but it's not something dh and my children are really into. I feel bad about that, but we couldn't afford it for years and now I have to remind myself that they have been getting cultural experiences of a different type. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMamaBird Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 There's a great theater near us that has a children's series of performances. The offer daytime shows and discounted prices. We go to a lot of shows! The only downside is the majority of the audience is usually HUGE school groups and it can get a bit loud and crowded. But it's a very fair trade-off in my opinion. We got to see the Nutcracker every other year and Dd and I are driving a ways this October to see Swan Lake. We're pretty excited about it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes, my kids have loved them. We started by taking them to local high school plays and musicals. (The old classic musicals held their attention the most.) Those were usually pretty affordable, with discounts for children. More professional type places often have discounts and 2-for-1 tickets on certain days, certain times of year, etc. We tried to take advantage of those when we could! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Dd REALLY wants to see Nutcracker, but it doesn't seem to be running anywhere around here this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes, definitely. We used to have a subscription to one of the local children's theaters and saw lots there. But my oldest has aged out of those for the most part and it's gotten harder to go as we've gotten busier. We have gotten so we give tickets to see something as a gift for birthdays or Christmas. I prefer to give experiences than things anyway. I've taken my daughter to see The Nutcracker twice (and the boys a few times). The boys and I went to see Peter and the Starcatchers. We've seen The Lion King. My oldest and I went to see Julius Caesar at the Folger Shakespeare Library last year, that was incredible. We've also taken him to see several of the Royal Shakespeare Company/ Globe Theater productions that you can see in movie theaters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 We went to A Winter's Tale, Midsummer and Hamlet this year. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Now you're playing in my sandbox. Theatre, ballet and opera are the reasons we don't take more vacations (although they are also sometimes the motivations for the ones we do take). Locally, each of my kids had his/her own season ticket for the local Shakespeare theatre beginning around age eight or nine. Although the name includes "Shakespeare," the company does more than plays by the Bard. In the early days when we were attending, they did mostly stick to classical theatre, but in the intervening decade-ish, they have branched out quite a bit. Each season now includes at least one musical and a few contemporary plays. I preferred the classical slant, but we've all seen a variety of productions there. My son and I had season tickets for the professional children's theatre one year when he was still young enough to enjoy that. We had season tickets for the ballet for six or seven years. We started that because, when my son was a student at the ballet school, he got buy-one, get-one-free subscriptions. In the years since he left that dance school, we've still seen an occasional production. The rest of us would, of course, see any ballets in which my son was performing (so, Nutcracker pretty much every year, but also Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet . . .) We used to catch at least one or two of the Broadway touring shows when they came through town each year, and we bought season tickets, I believe, twice. My daughter's choir director used to work for our city's opera company and would get the girls passes to see the dress rehearsals. That was our gateway to opera, after which I bought tickets for one season of their student matinees. A few years later, my son performed in the children's choruses or as a supernumerary in a few mainstage productions, and so, of course, we saw those, too. When he was nine, he was cast to help workshop a new opera. He spent a few weeks at an artists' retreat, living and working with the librettist, composer and the rest of the cast and crew. He was then invited to go with them to NYC to do a couple of showcase performances for potential backers. It was during that trip that I took him to see his first actual on-Broadway, Broadway show. We saw Curtains. I think it was the following year that we took the first family vacation to NYC. Our daughter was then going to college in Virginia, and we collected her for her fall break and surprised her with an early birthday present of tickets to Gypsy. We spent three or four days in the city and hit the TKTS booth each day for tickets to whatever shows were available at a discount. We've taken a few other theatre-centric trips to NYC in the seven or eight years since then, including one that was our daughter's college graduation gift and another a couple of years ago that we took because we knew it would be our last opportunity to do a vacation with the whole family before our daughter moved out on her own. With the exception of the professional stuff (ballet and opera), I'm not counting here the large number of shows we've seen because one of my kids or one of their friends has been in the cast. We often give tickets to something as birthday gifts. And, as I mentioned, theatre was often the destination for our family vacations. So, it's not something we do on top of other types of fun/leisure activity or luxuries, but more or less in place of them. And we work hard to find free, cheap or at least discounted tickets. For example, all of the years we held season tickets for the Shakespeare theatre, we bought their preview night packages. By going for one of the two weeknight performances just before the official opening night (when, in theory, the productions are still working out the kinks) and buying the full season at a time, we got tickets for approximately 30% of the full, single-ticket prices. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambam Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 When we lived in Houston, we went to the Miller Outdoor theater regularly - children's operas, plays, music concerts, etc. Now that we live much farther away, we still attend our local children's theater performances ($7-$15 ticket price), and one Shakespeare play yearly from our local Shakespeare festival, and attend various performances as our group schedules field trips so we get the reduced rate. My kids enjoy them, and we take advantage as we can, but cost is always an issue/concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Absolutely. Why wouldn't I? We used to have season tickets for two and I would take one of the kids with me each time or a dh or a friend if the content was too mature for the kids available. It was fun. If I could afford it, I'd buy season tickets again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Ballet and musicals every year--always local productions in our smaller town, so not as expensive as big cities I'm sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 One of mine is a theatre kid, so she's up for anything. The other needs to be 'encouraged' (dragged) but he goes anyway. He's especially vocal about not liking the symphony, It can be expensive, but theatre/fine arts events and dining out are what we do throughout the year with what would be another family's Disney budget. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes, as often as we can. We've been to productions of The Wizard of Oz, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Les Miserables. We've been to La Boheme and The Nutcracker. We've been to numerous children's plays: Frog and Toad, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Seussical and more that I'm forgetting off the top of my head. We went to see Pride and Prejudice last year too, even though they slept through the second half. Ha!We're already planning a trip for next spring, seven months from now (!!!), to see Matilda over spring break in Chicago. We all LOVE Tim Minchin and Roald Dahl and the book and the movie, so we're all super excited about seeing the musical production of Matilda. Sometimes our homeschool group is able to get heavily discounted tickets to go to a daytime matinee filled with other school children. We live in a university town, so we also sometimes have opportunities to see the final dress rehearsals of larger productions for free. We take advantage of those opportunities as much as possible too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 My kids have seen four Broadway shows: Mary Poppins, Shrek the Musical, the Addams Family, and Les Mis. We got free tickets to one show; the others we've been able to afford through Kids Night on Broadway, which is buy an adult ticket, get a kid ticket free. Tix go on sale in January I believe (you can Google for info) and the eligible shows are only during one week in February I think. We've taken them to Tanglewood at least once yearly (where the Boston Symphony does their summer concerts) since they were born. Besides classical concerts they've also seen CSN, James Taylor, Tony Bennett, Coldplay. They have attended many local theatrical productions and concerts as well as ballets and operas. They've seen one Shakespeare play. I would take them to a lot more but it is pricey. Now that they are a little older we use them as birthday or Christmas gifts since we're not really purchasing toys. The Met is on my wishlist; not sure how I will swing it since dh and I've only been once due to the expense, but I really want to take them to a production. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes, lots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenNotOfTroy Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I take my son to a variety of these things, as they are available and we can find prices we can afford. The local symphony does a free children's concert annually, the local theater is a community theater and has special field trip prices for some shows, other theaters in nearby cities also have special field trip prices. It pays to call and ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes. Our dc love the performing arts. We have attended many great performances, both professional and amateur. The professional groups sometimes offer student performances for the schools at significantly reduced prices, and many will sell tickets to homeschoolers, too. Besides any professional performing arts venues, check out local colleges, high schools, and community theater groups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBasil Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 My son is 6 and our budget is tight, but I've found high school plays and a local theater troupe that gives $5 homeschool performances. I've also taken him to see a couple of magicians that were part of a cheap/free summer kids program. I started with that and worked our way up to more sedate shows. Both kids want to see The Nutcracker this year, but I'm not sure it will be affordable or that they are ready for a ballet yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Absolutely! Yes, do it as much as you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes, the first live "theater" they went to was right around their 2nd birthdays. They've been to a number of them since then. At age 4 they saw West Side Story. We have the Phantom of the Opera CDs and the kids have had them memorized for years. The show doesn't play here often, but we watched a DVD recording of the show recently (my kids are 8). It was a little violent for them, but they look forward to seeing it in the theater when it comes to town next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes and on the cheap thankfully as we don't have a ton of extra money what we me not working so we can homeschool and my husband in school. We usually get tickets for free or cheap. The theaters are often really good about giving school kids dress rehersal tickets and we have been able to access that as homeschoolers. Also there are standby and rush ticket deals here that are really cheap and pay what you can days for many theaters. When my older son turns 13 he can register for something called teen tix and then it's $5 each for him and one adult companion to see pretty much all theaters and many music performances. I also worked in the ticket office of a major arts company here in college and have friends still working in more than a few places which allows me access to comps from time to time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 As much as we can. Her first live performance was a community theater production of "Cinderella" when she was 4. She fell in love with opera watching "Carmen" at 9 with the regional opera company. We go to the regional opera company's student nights (final dress), have gone to the production of the "Nutcracker" put on for local schools (a separate daytime performance), local community theater free reader's theater and other productions, some high school productions, various concerts (some free, some inexpensive), performances by the community college theater program, etc. She has had the opportunity to work backstage at three local adult community theater shows, two of which my husband was in and one in which she helped him with props. We don't go to many of the touring professional shows or big concerts, though, as they are just too expensive. The exception was seeing Pink Martini in concert with the symphony last school year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan in SC Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes. My family attends plays, musicals, ballets and operas all the time. We see everything from local youth shows to Broadway on a regular basis. I think it is so important to share the arts. We also go to museums and art shows. (I can't even pass up a street fair with crafts.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes we have gone, and I would take them all the time if I could afford it. DD16 and DS20, Dh and I went to Lion King (Broadway Production) DD16, DH and I saw an off Broadway Grease Production recently that was very good in Portland Oregon. DD16, DH and I area going to Wicked on this Saturday (Broadway Production) DS20 has heard several symphonies in Portland, Oregon. The rest of us prefer theater, but he prefers his live music without lyrics. The only thing that prevents me from going more often is the price. For the cheapest seats I could find, Wicked is going to cost us almost $250 for 3 tickets. :0( It is a small theater so even the nose bleed seats are still decent, but I would have loved to sit closer that the back wall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan in SC Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 If you live near NYC and can get to a show, the lottery is a wonderful way to try for tickets. Some shows have email lotteries and some you have to go in person. My phone keeps posting when I'm not done, but you get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Absolutely. We love theater, musicals, ballet, concerts. Too many to list. We do things at the Kennedy Center, an outdoor pavilion venue (2 of them, in fact), and we go to NYC. Smithsonian does some summer things as well. 😊 Adult son is in theater and Younger DS is following. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 If only I had $$, I would have raised all of my children at the theatres, music performance halls, and museums. Absolutely love these activities! I was raised performing in orchestras, and attending performances of important classical musicians. Twice, I have splurged on taking the kids to see The Chieftains. Once I took eldest DS to the symphony because he had his heart set on hearing a live performance of Grieg's "Pier Gynt" [misspelled. sorry!]. We have pulled off some other performances over the years. Every one was worth every penny! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 It's not financially possible for the new sprout, but bigger had already seen A Midsummer Night's Dream and several ballets when he was littler's age. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I would if I didn't have to drive to Detriot to see anything decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Theatre is where we spend all of our entertainment budget for the year. We see almost every Broadway touring production that comes to town plus we are blessed with amazing University theatre programs in our vicinity. Both girls have been to the ballet and philharmonic. Dd 13 is more interested and has also been to several operas. We are also involved in community theatre and go to see many community theatre productions. We are a theatre family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 We take them almost every time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRAAB Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 The only thing limiting us is money or I would take them to everything available. I've been slowly spending my inheritance from dad over the last 10 years (not a lot of money) and using it for just this. I know nothing would make him happier than to spend it on my family. One thing I do is buy season tickets to our local Shakespeare productions, which are just excellent. We enjoy it so much. I don't know what I'll do when the money runs out. I'm trying to make it last until the twins have graduated from high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I haven't actually gone to the opera house to see the opera live, and this is the one where my kids put their feet down and won't attend, but DH and I have seen a couple operas through Fathom events at our local theatre. It's not that expensive and might help those of you who aren't near an artsy city. It looks like Il Travatore and Giselle are happening in October. http://www.fathomevents.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reign Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 We see a professional musical every year. We also have a membership to a nice children's theatre that we go to 4 times a year. Last year I took my oldest to see Wicked at the Detroit Opera House. It was awesome and she loved it. I've seen it twice before and wouldn't have gone but I knew it would be magical for her. We have seen two children's operas as well as some Shakespeare in the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 If we can afford it, we do it! I have taken my kids to shows since they were very young. But, my kids were bizarrely well behaved at performances at a very young age, so it was easy. I have no idea why and did nothing to deserve that good luck. They were age appropriate when it came to restaurants or anything else. But at a play or a ballet or musical performance they were always super easy. No luck with museums though... My kids are also in lots of performances. They are both ballet dancers and are in plays, play instruments etc. Plus their dad is a musician on the side (not his day job, lol) so we see lots of different kinds of things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 When we can afford to, and can travel for it, yes. I took the oldest ones to Madame Bovary and we take all of the kids to The Nutcracker every year. I've taken them to Opera samplers, too. We just don't live in an area with a lot of options, but we are moving to a town with a theatre. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Of course. I have been taking my kids to live theatre and concert performances since they were old enough to sit still for the duration, around age 2. It is part of our life style and was very important to us that we share that with the kids. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Plays - Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The White Beaded Boy, The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, A Christmas Carol, several smaller productions at the local high school Musicals - Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, Les Miserable, White Christmas Ballet - The Nutcracker and Swan Lake Opera - Cosi Fan Tutte Symphony - too many for me to remember (we have taken advantage of the Young People's Concerts by the DSO) but the highlights are anything the DSO has ever done with John Williams music including their salute to Star Wars during the summer series last month, Holst' The Planets, and pretty much any time Canadian Brass is in the state. Eta: We began when they were three years old on average with the Tiny Tots concerts by the DSO, the concert in the park series with the local community band - which I took turns playing flute in and directing for several years - and the Peanut Gallery at the closest arts center which is specifically designed for preschool through primary aged children. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Since age 3? Met opera, Macbeth with Ethan Hawke, various shakespeare in the park, magic flute production in Vienna. My DD on the other hand, is not quite as well behaved so I can't say the same for her yet. She's only 4, however. Eta: he has also been to a number of Broadway shows, but that is not my thing so DH or inlaws take him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Now you're playing in my sandbox. Theatre, ballet and opera are the reasons we don't take more vacations (although they are also sometimes the motivations for the ones we do take). Dh was surprised years ago when the kids said they'd rather get season tickets to a professional theater than take a vacation trip. It helps that St. Louis has a reasonable amount of things you can see for free (free seats at the Muny, Shakespeare in Forest Park). Also, dh occasionally gets free seats at various venues. We get together with other families to get group discounts at some places. Older dd is majoring in technical theater. She takes great advantage of student discounts (including the free-to-college-student seats at New Line). Younger dd hasn't yet said what she plans to study in college, but I've noticed that BFA is on her mind a lot lately. Going to performances is part of their schooling at this point. In the past 3 weeks we've gone to 2 professional performances and 1 community theater performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted August 18, 2015 Author Share Posted August 18, 2015 Yes, definitely. We used to have a subscription to one of the local children's theaters and saw lots there. But my oldest has aged out of those for the most part and it's gotten harder to go as we've gotten busier. We have gotten so we give tickets to see something as a gift for birthdays or Christmas. I prefer to give experiences than things anyway. I've taken my daughter to see The Nutcracker twice (and the boys a few times). The boys and I went to see Peter and the Starcatchers. We've seen The Lion King. My oldest and I went to see Julius Caesar at the Folger Shakespeare Library last year, that was incredible. We've also taken him to see several of the Royal Shakespeare Company/ Globe Theater productions that you can see in movie theaters. Especially as they get older, I much prefer finding memorable experiences for the kids rather than just gifting them more things. I am jealous of your viewing of Julius Caesar at the Folger Shakespeare Library! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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