One of the greatest treats for me and my kids is to go and see a show. I have always been a huge fan of live theatre, especially the musical kind. I saw Les Miserables six times and cried at every single show. Showboat? Loved. Just saw The Colour Purple and was totally mesmerized. I sang at the top of my voice in the aisles at Mama Mia.
But some of my most memorable visits to the theatre have been with my kids, especially when they were little. We have seen a variety of different shows depending on their age. I love the look of amazement on their faces when the lights go down and then the thrill of seeing their favourite characters appear on the stage. It is truly magical and as I have started to see with my older child, it creates and nurtures a love of theatre that blossoms as they get older.
So, I encourage you to look for age appropriate shows in your community and share the thrill with your little one. For those of you in Toronto I have a little something to get you started. Make a comment below about your favourite theatre memory as a child or with your children and you will be entered to win a Family 4 Pack of tickets to see Max and Ruby in Toronto on May 24th! Contest ends THIS FRIDAY MAY 15th. Don’t forget, you must be an urbanmoms.ca member to win so please sign in to comment. Not a member yet? Click here to join.
Check out the show details:
Playdate with Max & Ruby, Miss Spider, Bananas in Pyjamas and The Fairly OddParents, May 24 at 11 am at the Music Hall in Toronto
The stars come out to shine in a power-packed hour-long multi-media musical storytime featuring some of Treehouse TV’s best-known characters. Kids – and parents – are invited to laugh at Max & Ruby’s antics, dance and sing along with Miss Spider and her Buggy Bunch, and join B1 & B2’s adventures! This fun presentation is hosted by the zany fairy Godparents Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly OddParents.
Sadly, I don’t remember going to any live shows with my parents until I was a teenager – but that I will never forget.
Now I am a mom to an 11-month-old and have spent my livelihood working in theatre; performing, training, directing, teaching, writing – I love it! – and so does my son.
For the last 10 years I have been honoured to work with Famous PEOPLE Players (www.fpp.org) – if you have never been with your kids, GO! I take my son to our rehearsals and he is absolutely RIVETED. He dances along. It is stunning black-light puppetry and super popular with kids and adults. It is like nothing you have ever seen, and what’s even more magical is the story behind it all! 🙂
My grandfather owned both the theatre and drive-in where I grew up and my fondest memories were of going to the drive-in with my Grandma and being allowed to eat anything and everything I wanted! The dashboard of my Grandma’s car would contain everything from hotdogs to popcorn – fully covered. A young kid’s dream
My Great Aunt used to take all the cousins to a play, ballet, concert, etc. every Christmas. It was just her and 9 children at Hamilton Place. We all loved it!
We took our daughter to Disney on Ice two months back and she loved watching all the Disney characters like Mickey, Daisy, Goofy and Minnie. Tinkerbell was the star on Ice and she loved it!!! I wish I could take her more often but with the recession, it’s not easy.
I remember going to see the Ice Capades for the first time as a young girl and I was totally amazed and impressed with all the costumes and performers skating on the ice. I now enjoy taking my 3 year old son to see shows like Disney on Ice and he loves it!
Would love for my kids to see a live show…what a great experience!
Unfortunately I never got to go to the theater as a kid but I now have a two and a half year old and I would love for her to enjoy live shows. Her first one so far… Disney on Ice, she loved it!
The highlight for me was when my mom would take my sisters and I to see the icecapades. It was such a great girls day out!
I took my Simone to her first play, Alice in Wonderland, and before I knew it her 18 month old body was on stage dancing with the flowers! Luckily, it was a local childrens production, so she was met with smiles and handholding!
I loved Jacob two two and the hooded fang, and till this day I remember seeing it in Oshawa at a playhouse
This past fall, I took my three year old to see the ‘Thomas’ show and he was blown away by seeing his favourite character brought to life!
I never went to the theatre as a kid, but I did get to see Gordon Lightfoot at Massey Hall. I was under 10 and my Dad and I went. What a great memory of time with Dad alone.
I loved when I took my 3 year old son to see Diego live and he leaned over to me a couple minutes into the play and informed me that the animals were puppets, they weren’t real!
I loved Joseph and the Techno color dream coat. I think I loved it more because I didn’t have that built up excitement that it was going to be the best show ever. Then when I did love it, it was even better.
I’ve taken my boys to see the Doodlebops a few times and they put on a great show. I know my boys would enjoy this show too.