ENTERTAINMENT

Many Broadway shows offering kids-for-free program in January

Mark Kennedy The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, November 4, 2014 1:14PM EST

This file publicity image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows Andrea Martin, left, and Matthew James Thomas during a performance of "Pippin," at Broadway's Music Box Theatre in New York. (Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Joan Marcus)

Text:

NEW YORK -- Forget paying for a baby sitter. Why not take the kids to Broadway?

Theatre-loving parents early next year will get a financial break with the annual program that lets children and teens aged 6-18 see a Broadway shows for free when accompanied by a full-paying adult. This year, the offer is good for shows from Jan. 9-15.

The shows participating are: "Aladdin," "Beautiful -- The Carole King Musical," "Chicago," "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," "Honeymoon in Vegas," "If/Then," "Jersey Boys," "Kinky Boots," "Les Miserables," "The Lion King," "Mamma Mia!" "Matilda the Musical," "The Phantom of the Opera," "On the Town," "Pippin," "Rock of Ages," "Side Show" and "Wicked."

Tickets to participating shows will be available beginning Wednesday.

The program was introduced Tuesday by Judith Light and Tony Danza, former co-stars on the sitcom "Who's the Boss?" Light has won two Tony Awards since the show ended and Danza is about to star on Broadway in "Honeymoon in Vegas."

"When you expose young people to the theatre early, it can really change their lives. It expands them. It opens their educational world. And it gives them a window into world that they might not otherwise have known," said Light.

Danza credited one of his high school teachers with changing his life when he took him to Broadway shows including "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" and "West Side Story." Said Danza: "It does have the ability to influence a kid."

Some Broadway shows currently on tour will also participate, including "Newsies" in Pittsburgh on Nov. 25 and "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella" on Nov. 11 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Kids' night events will be held in 240 venues across the country.