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By Tamara Warren 5/06 4:20pm

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Super WHY! Comes Alive

Super WHY!, the PBS animated children’s show, came alive to a packed house of pre-schoolers waving $20 twirling light objects last Thursday night at the Beacon Theatre.

Making its only New York City appearance, the live stage version of Super WHY! hit all the right notes. Main characters Alpha Pig, Super Why, Princess Presto, and Wonder Red operate from “The Book Club” and refer to classic fairy tales and the alphabet to solve the mystery question “Who has the greatest super powers in the world?” They test skills like “reading power” to search for the answer, which they then enter into the super computer. Eventually, kids in the audience start participating in the three-letter journey to the empowering answer. (The answer to the question, by the way, is “you.”) Read More

By Benjamin-Emile Le Hay 7/31/12 4:33pm

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"Into the Woods" at Public Theater/Delacorte Theater. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

…And Home Before Dark!

New York’s Public Theater has announced a special family matinee of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony award-winning musical Into The Woods, on Wednesday, August 22 at 3 p.m. as part of its Shakespeare in the Park series at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

“This matinee is designed to engage younger audiences and to serve families unable to attend evening performances,” read a statement from The Public. The 95-minute production will be squeezed into one act—perfect for those young thespians that might not last through the later 8p.m. show. Read More

By Rachel Graham 4/18/12 5:15pm

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Children’s Theater Crosses Over At The New Victory Theatre

“Traces,” now playing in Union Square, is a unique blend of circus, street art, and dance, creating an emotional portrait of young people leaving their mark on the world. The show has been hailed by Time Out New York and Time Magazine as one of the top ten theater pieces of 2011.

But one audience segment was already familiar with “Traces”: kids who saw it years ago at The New Victory Theater, the first theater in New York City dedicated to youth and families.

The New Victory got its start as one of seven theaters revived by New 42nd St., the nonprofit created to revitalize Times Square in the mid-1990s. The organization took a dilapidated, shuttered theater with a risqué past (it was once a burlesque club) and renovated it to create something that New York didn’t have: a children’s theater presenting works from around the globe. Read More