Where-To-Go Wednesday - The Trial of Typhoid Mary and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

We were given free tickets to the Trial of Typhoid Mary for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own based on our experience.

What: The Trial of Typhoid Mary

Where: The New York Historical Society

             170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way

             New York, NY

Who: Tweens and up

When: See web-sites below for future performances of The Trial of Typhoid Mary and/or similiar shows.

Mom's view: The Trial of Typhoid Mary is an interactive mystery. It was presented at the New York Historical Society by LiveINTheater for several performances this Spring. Last year the same group presented The Pinkertonian Mystery in the same location. These shows are great fun because you don't just sit and watch. you actually get to participate in the performances. You are presented with a situation, you break up into groups and  go around the museum to specific locations interviewing characters in the show to get information and to form an opinion. Last year's show was more of mystery to solve. This year's show was a trial to determine whether or not Typhoid Mary should be removed from the general public and quarantined in isolation. Last year's show was a bit more interesting because it involved matters that most people are not as familiar with as they are with Typhoid Mary and also, it was more about actually solving a mystery rather than just informing an opinion. However, this year's show did a better job of involving the young people in the group. In fact, all of the kids were given the opportunity to be part of the prosecution, the defense, or the jury while the adults were just the courtroom spectators. Thus, the show provided a great opportunity to make history truly come alive for kids beyond something that they read about in their school text books. That is a great lesson for any kid to learn especially those that think history is boring and/or doesn't matter. Besides, it is always great fun participating in one of LiveInTheater's performances. We can't wait to see what they come up with next!  For more information about LiveInTheater go to http://liveintheater.com/about.php. For more about the New York Historical Society go to http://www.nyhistory.org/. We will also be talking more about current New York Historical Society exhibits in future posts.

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What: Beautiful- The Carole King Musical

Where: Stephen Sondheim Theatre

              124 W. 43rd St.

              New York, NY

Who: 10 and up

Mom's view: Even if you are not necessarily a fan of Carole King, but you just love a good story filled with great songs, you will enjoy this show. If you are a fan of hers, you will love this show, and it will take you on a huge nostalgia trip. This is not just a jukebox musical full of songs but is actually the story of Carole King's rise to fame and how she started out writing songs for other people and eventually came to sing songs of her own. Of course, there is much more to the story than that along the way she met and teamed up with Gerry Goffin, married him,  divorced him, and then had to find her way on her own both as a single mother and  a singer-songwriter. If you think that the show is no longer worth seeing because the original star, Jessie Mueller, who won a Tony for the role, is no longer in the show, you would be wrong. Not only would you be missing a terrific show, but you would be missing the wonderful performance of Ms. Mueller's replacement, Chilina Kennedy in the lead role of Carole King. The show has not lost a beat since Ms. Kennedy replaced Ms. Mueller, and Ms. Kennedy has now been in the role for over a year. I don't doubt that if Ms. Kennedy had been in the role first, she may very well have won the Tony. She's that good. In fact, the show is that good, and you won't want to miss it. It is not a show for very young children, however. It is not  that there is anything particularly objectionable about it. It just would not interest them although they might like the songs. Older children would probably enjoy it though especially if they love a good musical, Carole King, and/or 70s music.. For more information or to order tickets to go to http://beautifulonbroadway.com/.

Photo credits: Beautiful photos 1 and 2 by Joan Marcus. All other Beautiful photos by Zachary Maxwell Sterz

And that's Mom's view. Tune in tomorrow for more about The Trial of Typhoid Mary.