I saw my first Broadway show when I was small enough that my feet didn’t touch the floor, and I can still tell you exactly where the follow spot hit the stage the first time it snapped on. So when somebody asks me whether they should take their kid, the answer is YES, with conditions. Here are the conditions.

How old does a child have to be?

Most Broadway theaters don’t admit children under the age of four. That’s the rule of thumb across the district, and it gets printed in the fine print on ticketing pages all the time. On top of that, individual shows post their own age guidance. A big family musical might say “recommended for ages 6 and up,” a play with heavy themes might say 12 or 13 and up. The age guidance is the production telling you what’s in the show. Read it.

The other rule people miss: every person needs a ticket, regardless of age. There’s no lap seating on Broadway. If the toddler is coming, the toddler has a seat, and the seat costs what a seat costs.

Booster seats are a thing

Broadway houses were built for grown-up sightlines, and a seven-year-old in row K is staring at the back of a stranger’s head. Many theaters keep booster cushions for kids. Ask an usher when you come in, before the house fills up, because they run out. It’s the difference between your kid seeing the show and your kid seeing a coat.

If you have any say over the seats, the front mezzanine is gold for kids. They’re looking DOWN at the stage, nobody’s head is in the way, and the whole stage picture with the dancing and the set changes is laid out in front of them. Carmen has written the full where-to-sit breakdown, and every house in our theater guide lists its levels so you know what you’re buying.

Picking the first show

For a first show, go big and go musical. Kids follow color, movement and song faster than they follow dialogue, and a musical has an intermission built in for a snack-and-bathroom reset. Look for:

  • A running time they can handle. Two and a half hours with a break is fine for most school-age kids. Three hours of dialogue is not. Every show posts its running time, so check it (we explain the typical running times here).
  • A story they already half-know. If they recognize the characters, they’re invested from the first number.
  • Spectacle. Flying, transformations, a staircase that lights up. You want them to go “how did they DO that” at least once.

Matinees are your friend. Kids are sharper at 2 p.m. than at 9:45 p.m., and the weekend matinee crowd includes plenty of other families, so nobody’s glaring at a whisper.

Surviving the night

Feed them before. Concession prices are what they are, and a hungry kid has no attention span left for the second act. Take everybody to the restroom before curtain AND at the very start of intermission, because the line moves slowly. Talk through the rules on the walk in: no talking during the songs, clap at the end of the numbers, phones away.

And prep the big moments if your kid scares easily. Loud effects, a villain number, the house going pitch black: tell them it’s coming and that it’s all pretend. A scared kid in the dark is a kid who wants to leave.

Then let them have the bows. Let them stand up and scream. That’s the part they’ll remember, and maybe it’s how the next critic gets started.