Friday, March 21, 2008
Broadway musicals - suitable for kids
New York Times: "TAKING your kids to a Broadway musical might seem like a no-brainer. What could be more of a treat than the excitement of lights going down, the curtain going up and actors performing live onstage? But beyond the Lion Kings, Mary Poppinses and Little Mermaids, the terrain gets more complicated."
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This article makes a really good point about today's kids: they are exposed to more "adult" stuff sooner. Is this a question of a lower standard of decency in our culture, or is it more of a response to growing up with such intense technology. I'm sure television has the most to do with this phenomenon. This article was interesting to me also because I had not considered how many of the most "classic" musicals aren't good for kids. But I also think this shows that a musical often has to deal with something very serious and "adult" in order to be deeper and more meaningful, to be "good."
Also, I object to the suggestion that Grease is all about conforming instead of being yourself. Maybe that's part of it, but I think it's more of Jane Eyre thing: they both have to change their "status" before they can be together, and they do it because they're "soulmates". Could they fly away in a car together if they didn't both make some kind of sacrifice for eachother? That's true love...
Broadway musicals that are completly suitable for kids is practically imposibble to find. Most shows have a good plot that should teach something to kids that every parent wants there children to learn, but how they do it might not be the best for children of a certain age. While I think shows on Broadway are trying to bring in younger audiences with hip lyrics and fast pace shows they are mostly dealing with life issues that adults would understand. It seemed to me that with most the musicals the author's children failed to grasp what was going on in the bigger picture. But after all what kid looks for that when you there are 20 college girls on stage singing?
Personally my parents brought me to see shows when I was of a very young age and I remember seeing Music Man, Phantom, Cats, Aida, and Lion King all on Broadway at a young age and I don't remember the plots at all. I have a visual memory of the shows and they all seemed appropriate to me but personally all I remember from them is certain images and scenes but I have no idea what happened or what they talked about, maybe I was too interested in the spectacle part of the shows...
I am really glad that there are such a range of shows for families to enjoy. I wish I was exposed to theater before my involvement in the sophomore year. It is just unheard of for first generation korean families to go to theaters. The only shows I ever saw when I was little was the productions at church which I also got involved with.
I am glad on one hand that the author is interested in getting her kids interested in theatre, and going to theatre. However, on the other hand, I think that if you are looking for a totally kid friendly show on Broadway, you are much better to stick with the Disney shows, wait there is some killing in the lion king, better take that off the list (you laugh, as kids one of my friends was not allowed to watch The Lion King because of the death component).
The problem is more: What do you do with the kids who are too old for Disney on ice, but too young for Spring Awakening and Avenue Q? I am glad the author made the discoveries she did, that there are many tiers of messages in shows, some the kids will get and others they will not. Honestly, who cares if they are missing the message in this song, one day they will learn what that means and and then have even more fun going OOOH! as they can now enjoy the messages they earlier could not understand.
I think at such a young age, there are enough Disney shows that they can suit a child's interest in theatre until they get older. Although this is not completely true, most younger children are not going to go to the theatre until they are 5 or 6, and if they only go once a year, once they run out of Disney shows they will already be around 10. There are still other shows to see around this age group (Hairspray and Wicked are two examples), and by the time they turn 13 or 14, in my opinion, almost all of the shows are acceptable.
Sheltering children from what may or may not be appropriate has always been an issue for parents. Now the boundaries get even more hazy as media such as the internet, video games, television, and even advertising are all so accessible and impossible to avoid. It's scary to admit, but children are continually be exposed to more and more adult themes, and they're accepting it. Can parents do the same?
I think the main problem for this particular parent, is that she is simply dealing with boys at a very awkward age and is struggling to connect with them through Broadway musicals, a very unique choice of bonding. She may need to take a risk and let her kids see a show dealing with more adult content. Suddenly, mom doesn't have her adorable naive children anymore and then can communicate on a whole new level with them.
with an article like this posted nearly every week, you'd think people would start realizing that broadway isn't always for kids. if it isn't disney on ice or the dora the explorer, then chances are your 3-year-olds shouldn't be coming along to watch it.
then again, cartoon network and nickelodeon are becoming more and more raunchy, even in programs targeted at kids...
I think there is a huge problem in the fact that people seem to think it is reasonable for them to request that any show meet all of the standards they have.
For one thing, you have the kids who are too young to pay attention for the entire duration of a musical, so that complicates things a great deal. Along with that, at this age children are still trying to fit into day to day conversations, and I do not think that singing them will make it any easier to comprehend.
As you move out of that age range, you come into an awkward age where every kid is used to a different level of maturity. And it isn't always the parents who are aware of what this level is.
Even if you have 15 or 16 year olds seeing something like Avenue Q, then you run into the awkward "I don't want to see puppets have sex while sitting next to my father" kind of thing.
But is any of this a clear cut reason to not bring children to a theatre? Not at all.
As in many instances, this does not need to be worried about nearly so much. If the show ends up too inappropriate, embarrassing, or overwhelming, then chances are it will be blocked out or not absorbed in the first place.
Even if the show is a raging success amongst your children, it will most likely be forgotten as impressionable minds gain plenty of new memories every day.
The exposer is inevitable. most kids will eventually see the material that is available in one of the many mediums. This article points out this obvious fact by using Musicals as the medium. However musicals tend to be a bit more subliminal. in the end the substance is there and whether or not the kid is going to pick up on it depends on whether he/she is allowed to see it, and if he/she is paying enough attention to pick up on it anyway.
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