When I first heard that we were going to New York, my first thought was Broadway. My family and I absolutely love musicals, and I’d heard Mom and Dad talk about Broadway for years. We all agreed that a Broadway show was a necessary part of our trip.

The real dilemma came when we had to decide which show we were going to see.

On the way to track practice (my siblings run with the local homeschool running team) we argued discussed which Broadway show we wanted to see. I was pulling them up on my phone and telling everyone the ones I thought we should see. There were three that kept coming up – The Lion King, Newsies, and Phantom Of The Opera.  (Les Mis is also a family favorite, but we saw that when it came to Louisville.)

After much intense discussion, we decided that we should go see The Lion King. From what we’d heard, it was absolutely amazing.  We really wanted to see Newsies and Phantom too, but Newsies is coming to Louisville in November (I can’t wait!) and we have Phantom Of The Opera on DVD (even though it’s not as cool as the live performance).

Dad booked our tickets, and we were super excited for it. It was wonderful!

I asked the kids what they thought about The Lion King, and this is what they said:

Jade: “I thought ‘that is so cool! I wonder how they did that.'”

Emery: “The Lion King was absolutely amazing. I loved the giraffes.”

Fletcher: “Awesome. I really liked the two Nala’s.”

Hewitt: “It was not what I was expecting, like when the animals came down the hall, and it was scary when the hyenas came down the hall. I didn’t know that they would be coming and then I heard something and turned around and saw hyenas coming towards me and it was scary. But I knew they weren’t real. And my favorite part was the giraffes because they were basically on their hands and legs but they had sticks and they were basically walking on their hands and legs on sticks.”

Indigo: “It was awesome, and I loved it! It was very different than I expected. My favorite part was when Nala pinned Simba.”

Colter: “An amazing, well crafted play, that everybody should have the chance to see.”

Greyden: “It was awesome to see my first Broadway play and I think they did it very well.”

The next day, we were on a cruise around the island when the boat had mechanical problems and we had to return to the dock, leaving us with a free afternoon. “How about we get on the TKTS line right outside our hotel?” Grandma suggested. The TKTS line is for discounted Broadway tickets. “Maybe we can get tickets for Newsies.”

We all decided that would be a good idea, so we got on the line and amused ourselves by quoting our favorite lines from Newsies. When we ran out of lines we had memorized, we moved on to singing the songs. Loudly. Loudly enough that some people in TKTS vests joined in.

Awesome family in line @tkts who makes soap scents and loves @newsies @goatmilkstuff pic.twitter.com/tor1ZqSzp2

— Jordan Feltner (@TKTSJordan) May 9, 2014

We got to the front of the line, and there was some squealing and cheering when we learned that, though they weren’t near each other, there were still 11 tickets for Newsies available! Not only had we seen The Lion King, but we were going to see another Broadway show!

Well, Newsies was awesome. I absolutely loved it.

Emery: “I loved the action.”

Fletcher: “I really enjoyed all of the dancing and singing.”

Hewitt: “They changed it from the movie, but they were excellent singers and dancers. And I liked it.”

Jade: “I loved it.”

Indigo: “It was very, very different from the movie, and I didn’t really like it because of that.”

Colter: “Very entertaining, in and of itself, but I was disappointed that they focused on the boy/girl relationship rather than the group of Newsies.”

Greyden: “Newsies was very upbeat. I can’t believe the way they were running around dancing and singing at the same time, because if I was trying to do that I would be out of breath in two seconds.”

The next day, we finished filming our segment for the Huckabee Show and headed back to the hotel. “I wish we could see another Broadway show tonight,” someone said, sighing a little. “I love Broadway!”

We reached the hotel and Mom sent everyone off to their rooms to change out of their TV clothes. I was just coming out of the bathroom when Hewitt came bouncing into my room through the connecting door, with a grin so big that it barely fit on his face. “Guys! You have to go talk to Mom right now!” he squealed.

“What happened?” Indigo asked.

“We’re not allowed to tell you,” Emery said, poking his head in and giving Hewitt “The Look”.

“What, did Mom get more Broadway tickets?” Grandma asked.

“Yes!” Hewitt said, covering his mouth with his hand a moment later. “Oops.” Emery was glaring at him and he looked sheepish. “Pretend to be surprised, okay?”

I hurried to Mom and Dad’s hotel room to find out that yes, it was true, they’d snuck back down to the TKTS line while we were all changing and gotten us half price tickets to Phantom Of The Opera.

To say we were thrilled would have been an understatement.

Colter: “Phantom was the best Broadway musical we went to. The power in the music is so amazing, and the story so well written, that it is impossible to not like it.”

Jade: “It was my first time ever seeing it, so it was pretty cool.”

Emery: “Absolutely amazing. The songs, the orchestra, it was so loud and full, just absolutely amazing.”

Fletcher: “Really loud but really awesome.”

Hewitt: “I haven’t watched the movie, so I was just plenty cool with it.”

Indigo: “It was awesome! My favorite part was… well, I don’t know. It was too good.”

Greyden: “I had never seen the Phantom Of The Opera before, and for me to see it for my first time, on Broadway was amazing.”

Dad summarized the three shows we saw like this – “The Lion King is visually incredible.  It is wonderful to see.  Newsies is incredibly entertaining and had a much fuller sound and orchestra.  It is wonderful to see and to hear.  The Phantom of the Opera is an incredible story.  It is wonderful to see, to hear, and to feel.”

We were so incredibly blessed, to see three Broadway shows in three days.  The kids haven’t stopped talking about it yet, and we’ve been singing the music non-stop (we have all 3 soundtracks!).

It was an amazing experience and I’m already trying to decide which Broadway show I want to see next, if we ever go back to New York!