This was published 7 years ago
Broadway family holiday: How to do New York with kids
Broadway has plenty of child-friendly shows on offer.Credit: Getty Images
They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway, to quote George Benson.
But our son's mood is dark as we go to our first show on this famed strip.
"Musicals are lame," he harumphs, full of pre-pubescent hormones.
Times Square is a technicolour dream. Amid a crowd crush, the lines are a mile long.
Sure, you can wait hours in the queue at TKTS for a marginal discount. But with kids – and almost 60 million visitors a year – it's a rotten way to see the Big Apple.
(You can, however, get bargain tickets for matinees on a Wednesday.)
We book in advance to see Cirque du Soleil's Paramour, in the gloriously restored Lyric Theatre, where Fred and Adele Astaire danced in For Goodness Sake.
"A timeless love story," Taj spits, reading the programme. "They'd better not kiss. Gross!"
We sit down to discover a tasty treat: an in-house app to order pre-show drinks and snacks, sent to your seats.
Like a miracle, a California chardonnay appears in my hand.
I can't shake the songs from my head. Lullaby of Broadway. New York, New York. Broadway Baby.
The Lyric is the second largest theatre, with excellent line-of-sight from each of the 1930 seats.
The lights go down. The anticipation is otherworldly. My mouth hangs open, like that dumb guy in The Castle.
Circus performers start to swing from the ceiling, as a tale of true love unfolds on the stage.
At intermission, the crowd is abuzz. So are the kids.
"Mum, this is AMAZING," Taj exclaims. "The actors are so talented. And those guys on the swings, I thought they were going to die!"
"Yeah!" Grace agrees. "Can we go to see more shows? I love the theatre."
This turns out to be the highlight of our trip to NYC. (Although the kids are ashamed of their mother, singing, "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere" while riding the subway.)
Restaurant Row is child-friendly, with cheap and cheerful BBQ, sushi and pizza. Every theatre has booster cushions for under-10s. And you can book behind-the-scenes tours with Disney, for shows including Aladdin.
The Lion King, Matilda, School of Rock, Wicked, STOMP, and Blue Man Group are all showing in the coming six months.
Since 2009, NYC tourism bods have gone out of their way to attract families, with 17.5 million visiting last year.
They even have an ambassador – well, four, actually – in the form of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
"We invite parents to expose their children and relatives to the diverse culture this city offers," Mayor Bill de Blasio says.
The Beacon Hotel, on the Upper West Wide, is the ideal base, with plush one and two bedroomed self-contained apartments.
It's next to the historic Beacon Theatre, where Jerry Seinfeld performs once a month.
Honestly, we'd never thought of NYC as a family-friendly destination.
But as George Benson sings, "there's magic in the air".
And we have two new theatre aficionados to prove it.
NYC & Company supported the Spicer family's stay in New York City.
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