When my Broadway Baby says good night, she asks what's a lady of the night, mommy.
Growing up all me and my two sisters ever listened to in the car were Broadway show tunes. And we spent a lot of time in the car shuttling back and forth between swimming, ballet, piano and whatever else my mom decided to inflict us on. Tiger moms are nothing new, my mom just didn't write a book. When we fought over what to listen to it was a battle between The Music Man and Oklahoma, Barbara Streisand vs. Carol Channing. We weren't very cool among the other kids, unless we lied about what we listened to, and we knew to do that instinctively.
I still enjoy going to the theatre and I'd like my child to appreciate it as well.
But what happened to the shows?
I had season tickets this past season at the Arscht Center. My daughter and I saw Rock of Ages; Mary Poppins; Les Miserables; Pricilla, Queen of the Desert; and Memphis. So in a space of six months, my kid was exposed to pole dancing (Rock of Ages); prostitution (Les Miserables), gay bashing (Pricilla) and deep South 1950's race relations. (Memphis). She also had to sit through Mary Poppins which was way worse than the movie version.
Now I am far from being a sheltering mom when it comes to new ideas but there is no age-appropriate way to explain prostitution to a 6 year old.
I sure hope they give me an easy way to explain Mormons. The Book of Mormon is up next.
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