Showtime in Late Spring

Lots of monkeying around in Adventure Theatre's latest production

Looking for live entertainment for the kiddos? Here’s a go-to list of shows currently on stages around the area or coming to theatres soon. (Most descriptions pulled straight from the websites.)

Rapunzel
Where: Imagination Stage
When: April 4 – May 20
Tickets: $11-22
Rapunzel is a typical 16-year-old girl, with a couple small exceptions: she was stolen from her real parents by a wicked witch who pretends to be her mother, and her home is a high-security tower in the middle of nowhere. She’s content, and as far as she knows, hers is a great life…if a little boring. Excitement finds Rapunzel when the charming and handsome Prince Brian stumbles upon her remote abode, and she realizes how much she has been missing! Brian dodges the witch to visit his new friend regularly, and the two plot an escape. But the witch is crafty and casts a spell that sets the young couple on a difficult journey to happily ever after. Recommended for ages 4 and up.

Pinocchio
Where: The Puppet Co.
When: April 12 – June 3
Tickets: $10 (Find a discount here)
Half life-size rod puppets, performed in the Italian “Comedia del Arte” style, tell Carlo Collodi’s story of what it means to be “real”. Share the trials and tribulations of the little live puppet as he finds in one adventure after another that the “easy way” isn’t always the right way. Pinocchio sets out for school with the best of intentions, but somehow something more interesting leads him off the straight and narrow path. A Fox and Cat, a puppet show, a coach ride to a land too good to be true, all distract little Pinocchio from his quest to become a real boy. Recommended for K- Grade 6.

Five Little Monkeys
Where: Adventure Theatre
When: April 27 – June 3
Tickets: $18
Going shopping…baking cakes…sitting in trees…JUMPING ON BEDS!!! In this zany play, all in cumulative verse, five silly simian siblings insist on doing things their own way and, heedless of admonitions, much more monkey mayhem ensues. And maybe a call from a doctor. Recommended for all ages.

NSO Kinderkonzert: Brass of Peace
Where: Kennedy Center
When: May 5
Admission: $18
Brass instruments make a BIG sound. When Brass of Peace takes the stage, kids might be surprised to see musicians not too much bigger than they are behind this powerful playing. But seeing is believing, as this brass group comprised of 13 DC-area high school students perform pieces that just might blow the roof off the Family Theater. NSO hornist Sylvia Alimena conducts these concerts that bring together the city’s finest young brass musicians to teach all about the instruments of the brass family and how they make music out of metal and wind. Go early for the Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo.” Starting one hour before the Kinderkonzert, children can get up close with the instruments they’ll see played on stage, from violins and trumpets to oboes and flutes, in the Kennedy Center atrium. Recommended for ages 4 and up.

Look Both Ways: Street Arts Across America
Where: Kennedy Center & Other Venues
When: May 6-12
Admission: Free
The Kennedy Center presents this weeklong series of free performances and events at the Kennedy Center as well as locations around Washington, including large-scale spectacles, street musicians, parade culture, puppetry, circus arts, chalk drawings, clowning, and more. From a circus-punk marching band and political puppet theater to jugglers, contortionists, and stunt dogs, the electric energy of live interactive performance invades the streets of Washington.

Boogie Babes
Where: Eastern Market & Atlas Performing Arts Center
When: Thursdays & Fridays, 10:30am
Tickets: $5/child, free for siblings 6 months and under
Little ones can boogie along with their favorite local musicians in Eastern Market’s North Hall every Thursday morning AND at The Atlas Performing Arts Center on Fridays. Go for the show, then grab lunch in the Market and stay to play, or hit one of the many eateries on the H Street Corridor. Check the schedule to find out who’s playing when.

Tiny Tots
Where: The Puppet Co.
When: Most Wednesdays, Saturdays, & Sundays at 10am
Tickets: $5
The series presents puppet shows designed for the youngest theater patrons (ages 0-4). They are shorter, the lights stay on, and the doors stay open. They have an arsenal of shows that they switch up every performance, so be sure to check the schedule to see what’s playing when you go.

Tot Rock
Where: Jammin’ Java
When: Ongoing
Tickets: $5/weekdays, $10/weekends
Tot Rock is Jammin’ Java’s super-popular kids music concert series, providing wholesome family entertainment at one of the DC Metro area’s finest music clubs. Local groups perform every Monday through Friday and touring performers drop by on many weekends. Check the calendar often to see when your favorite act is performing, and for other venue updates.

Emily Loves to Bounce
Where: Kennedy Center
When: May 12-13
Admission: $18
The outer limit of imagination is at the heart of Emily Loves to Bounce, an off-the-wall, over-the-wall, through-the-wall work from Australia’s Patch Theatre Company. Inspired by the books of Stephen Michael King, Emily Loves to Bounce fuses mime, music, sound, imagery, and illusion to create a whimsical world full of bouncing balls and magical moving boxes. The story of the spontaneous Henry and the practical Amy meeting in the middle unfolds among flying shadows, children, and the sounds of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Recommended for ages 4 and up.

NSO Family Concert: Carnival of the Animals
Where: Kennedy Center
When: May 12-13
Admission: $18
Beloved children’s author and America’s first children’s poet laureate Jack Prelutsky takes the stage with the NSO for a musical and lyrical program built around Camille Saint-Saëns’ classic Carnival of the Animals. With narrated poetry and an IMAG projected picture parade of the musical suite’s 14 fantastic animals as illustrated by Mary GrandPré, this Carnival roars to life before kids’ eyes. Get there early for the Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo.” An hour before each NSO Family Concert, young concertgoers can get up close and hands-on with instruments in the Kennedy Center Atrium. Stay after the 3pm concert for a Kids’ Chat, where young audience members can ask questions and hear engaging stories in an up-close-and-personal talk with the concert artists. Recommended for ages 5 and up.

Tot Rock: Jammin’ at the Smithsonian
Where: Smithsonian Ripley Center
When: May 24
Admission: $3-6
Discovery Theater’s Tot Rock Series features rockin’ dance party concerts for children ages 2-6, with a complimentary cup of Jammin’ Java coffee and snacks on the side for grown-ups. Performing this time is Shine and the Moonbeams, singer-songwriter Shawana Kemp and guitarist John Heagle, two New York musicians who have collectively performed in every musical genre from Musical Theatre to the circus! They have teamed up to create a new genre that speaks to kids’ hearts – soulful, groove-happy R&B musical extravaganza in a rock and roll package.

Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band
Where: Alden Theatre
When: May 12
Admission: $15, $10/McLean residents
With numerous national awards for excellence in children’s entertainment, Alex and the Kaleidescope Band engage audiences of all ages with their lively, interactive and world-music infused performances. Recommended for ages 4 and up.

Goldilocks
Where: The Puppet Co.
When: June 8 – July 15
Tickets: $10
Goldilocks is on trial, and it’s up to the audience to decide whether or not it was breaking-and-entering or an innocent mistake. This musical romp illustrates that there are two sides to every story, with the same circumstances seen from very different points of view. Told with rod puppets and giant hand puppets, this production keeps the audience guessing while including all the favorite elements of the classic children’s fairytale.

Beauty and the Beast
Where: National Theatre
When: June 12 – 24
Admission: $56 – $150
The romantic Broadway musical for all generations, is coming to Washington, D.C.! Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the classic story of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped in a spell placed by an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed to his former self. But time is running out. If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.

Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods
Where: Wolf Trap
When: June 28 – August 13
Tickets: $8 (children under 2 are free)
With 70 performances from late June through early August, Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods presents family-friendly shows Tuesdays through Saturdays. Amidst 117 rolling wooded acres and nestled in a shady grove, the stage is set for lively adventures in music, dance, storytelling, puppetry, and theater. All performances are recommended for children between Kindergarten and 6th grade. The full schedule of shows in available of the Wolf Trap website. Read a KFDC review of the series from last summer.