"why parents are dragging very very young children to see this mess is beyond me."
Let me play the devil's advocate for a second. For one thing, a five year old is going to have a completely different experience watching a live musical than an adult. The show might well "stink" from our perspective, but there is something magical about seeing a show live that will stay with a child for a lifetime. My grandmother took me to see South Pacific when I was five. It was the original Broadway run. Did I know that the show was a great musical? Of course not, but believe it or not, I still have a few distinct visual memories of it tucked away in my memory bank. And because I continued to see shows from that point on, it created a life long love of musical theater, a love I believe I've passed on to all three of my kids.
And my oldest now has a five 1/2 year old who she took to see Wicked and is taking to see Frozen in July. And she does appreciate the difference between good and bad shows--she's an Equity stage manager.
My point is that I think it's great to get kids started early in the experience of live theater, and if it means taking them to see a show that they are familiar with because of a movie, who cares? |
