It’s the only theater on 42nd Street that offers stroller parking — and tickets that start at $20. Welcome to the New Victory Theater, where productions from across the country and around the world play out in a family-friendly space at family-friendly prices.
Not for nothing has the New Victory been called the gold standard in children’s theater, the best first stop on the way to taking your kids to see “Wicked” and everything else Broadway has to offer.
This season opens with a bang and a clang in “Cookin’,” a loud, slap-happy import from South Korea. Expect nonstop percussive action as four chefs frantically prepare for a wedding feast, using every utensil they can find, including the kitchen sink.
You’ll see martial arts, hear authentic Korean samulnori drumming and watch as some of the real food onstage goes flying into the first few rows of the orchestra. Recommended for ages 5 and older, the 75-minute show runs Oct. 14-30.
Up next: two productions presented in repertory by the Acting Company, launching pad of Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, Jeffrey Wright and so many others.
Its “Romeo and Juliet” (Nov. 11-20) is a fresh take on Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, set not in the Verona of old but in the present-day American South.
Said Kent Gash, the Acting Company’s artistic director: “As long as there’s human conflict, as long as there are people who don’t like each other for whatever reasons, there will always be a need to tell this story.” The show is recommended for audiences ages 12 and older.
For slightly younger audiences (ages 9 and up), the same cast performs “The Three Musketeers” (Nov. 12-27). Alexandre Dumas’ swashbuckling tale mixes hip-hop and swords in a retelling that hews closer to Dumas’ Haitian roots.
Meanwhile, off-Broadway, the Muppets take Manhattan. Nearly 40 years after the movie of that name, the Muppets are coming to the New York stage in “Sesame Street: The Musical.”
Fully live and very lively, this off-Broadway show opened this month to rapturous reviews, even from grown-ups. Kids of all ages will learn the ABCs of theater through song and dance, with a little help from Count von Count, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby and Oscar the Grouch, typecast here as a critic for the New “Yuck” Times.
Scattered amid some “Sesame Street” standards are new songs by such award-winning composers as Tom Kitt, who seems as thrilled to have worked on this as he has on Broadway’s hotly anticipated “Almost Famous.”
“I grew up on ‘Sesame Street,’ with ‘C is for Cookie’ and ‘Rubber Ducky,’” the 48-year-old songwriter tells The Post. “I remember the people that would drop by and talk with the characters. So when I sat down with Elmo the other week, my little kid heart was just soaring. It’s a real testament to imagination.”
“Sesame Street: The Musical” runs through Nov. 27 at Theater Row, 410 W. 42nd St.