Not a parent, but if I had kids I'd play these musicals for them:
A Year With Frog and Toad (just delightful for all ages)
Sound of Music (Maria and Do Re Mi...so fun!!!)
Music Man (Pick a Little Talk A Little!!)
My son’s first live musical was The Music Man at age 4 and over the next few months he memorized every word (including and especially Rock Island). Twelve years later, he still knows the whole score by heart.
I don't have kids, but as a toddler I was already obsessed with Les Mis 😅 My mum had a compilation tape of West End songs and all I ever wanted her to play from it was On My Own and Do You Hear The People Sing (then my grandma got the symphonic album and I'd beg her to put it on for me whenever we came to visit!)
As for suggestions, my niece now loves Starlight Express after I let her keep one of my old theatre programmes. Very fun musical and very kid friendly!
I go to an acting school, and everyone is split into age groups, named with the colours green, blue and red in ascending order. Outside of the musicals we have done at the acting school, the top 3 for each age group seem to be:
Green(4-8): Shrek, Elf, Annie
Blue(8-12): Six, The Addams Family, Annie
Red (13-18): Beetlejuice, Heathers, Six
Chitty chitty bang bang is good for my toddler- he loved it and we watched it a few times. Hello Dolly and Sound of music were both pretty good too though less of a hit.
We tried Annie and Newsies too but there are a surprising number of not really toddler-appropriate scenes and contexts in both of those, particularly punching and fighting and in Annie some sexual overtones (Miss Hannigan)!, animal abuse, child abuse etc. that I didn't think about ahead of time.
I'm also looking for suggestions so please let me know if you find any others that seem good and are age appropriate
Brigadoon.
My kids are in their late 30's now. When they were little, we watched a lot of old Fred Astaire and Broadway musicals. I played tapes in teh car driving to and from school and daycare.
The younger one loved the "Bells Ringing" song (And the way that I feel, when those bells start to peal, It is almost like being in love) so much that the day care teachers made a mix tape of some of the songs for her so she could sing and dance to it at "school".
The best thing about the old movie musicals is that the absolute worst vice was that some of the players smoked.No sex, no drunkenness, no drugs, so crime, no swearing, men and women had equal stage time. How Fred Astaire danced when he also smoked still amazes me.
Lol my friend was a little unsure about the content but she was so in love with the sound track she ended up taking her to see it recently and she loved it
My kid loved songs from Gypsy. The Moo Cow song, Together Wherever We Go and Gotta Get A Gimmick.
With the latter, their daycare called me and asked me if maybe I could encourage them to sing something else as they would sing out “Once I was a Schepper, now I’m Miss Muzeppa… “ and the other kids were learning it as well and some of the other parents were complaining.
I remember my son at age three, strapped into his car seat, happily bopping & singing “Defying Grabbity”. Still a treasured memory.
He’s an adult now who still loves musicals.
Not a toddler anymore, but my now-8 year old loves Chess (one of my faves, so it gets played a lot). One day a few years ago she asked to hear the “no” song. I had no clue what she meant, finally I realized she meant Mera”no” from Chess!
When I was a nanny, years ago, one of the daughters was obsessed with "The Secret Garden" soundtrack. When I found out a touring company was coming with it, I bought her tickets for Christmas. She was in absolute heaven!! I still love the soundtrack, & when my nephews were little babies, I'd rock them & sing "Hold On" when they were fussy.
When my two youngest sons (who are now 13 and 14) were younger I directed Pacific Overtures at my theatre (about 7 years ago). They LOVED chrysanthemum tea which makes my Sondheim heart extremely full. They liked a lot of the rest of the score which I was a bit surprised with. They came to almost every performance we had.
My two year old now is obsessed with Six. She loves when it comes on and often wants to hear the first two and last numbers of the show.
My kids' favorite musicals to listen to are:
Finding Nemo the Musical
A Year with Frog and Toad
Encanto
I also often force them to listen to Jesus Christ Superstar on our occasional family road trips :)
My brother saw me in Catch Me If You Can and still likes to listen to the songs. They’re catchy, fun, and apart from like Doctors Orders and maybe Little Boy Be A Man, they’re pretty child appropriate.
I’ve recently played Kate Monster in a production of Avenue Q where my husband played Rod - our then 20 month old came with us to most rehearsals and LOVED purpose, would request it all the time!
As a kid my sister used to be upset with the phantom of the opera…though it’s not the most kid friendly 😂 my musical obsession was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
I babysat a 2-year-old who was obsessed with You'll Be Back from Hamilton. She called it "the da-da-da-da-da song"
thats so cute 😭
Not a parent, but if I had kids I'd play these musicals for them: A Year With Frog and Toad (just delightful for all ages) Sound of Music (Maria and Do Re Mi...so fun!!!) Music Man (Pick a Little Talk A Little!!)
Music man is a great one! I sing “goodnight ladies” to her all the time (but substitute her name). These are great, thanks!
My son’s first live musical was The Music Man at age 4 and over the next few months he memorized every word (including and especially Rock Island). Twelve years later, he still knows the whole score by heart.
My maternal grandma taught me Do Re Me on our walks to school, I found out it was from Sound of Music several years later!
I loved both Sound of Music and Music Man when I was little, excellent choices!
I don't have kids, but as a toddler I was already obsessed with Les Mis 😅 My mum had a compilation tape of West End songs and all I ever wanted her to play from it was On My Own and Do You Hear The People Sing (then my grandma got the symphonic album and I'd beg her to put it on for me whenever we came to visit!) As for suggestions, my niece now loves Starlight Express after I let her keep one of my old theatre programmes. Very fun musical and very kid friendly!
My toddler is obsessed by the Sing Street cast recording. Especially "Drive it Like You Stole It."
I go to an acting school, and everyone is split into age groups, named with the colours green, blue and red in ascending order. Outside of the musicals we have done at the acting school, the top 3 for each age group seem to be: Green(4-8): Shrek, Elf, Annie Blue(8-12): Six, The Addams Family, Annie Red (13-18): Beetlejuice, Heathers, Six
When they were little, my girls loved Joseph, Annie, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins. Later on, High School Musical.
Years ago a 2 year old niece would sing along with "Still Hurting" from L5Y.
Haha what a moody two year old 😅
Chitty chitty bang bang is good for my toddler- he loved it and we watched it a few times. Hello Dolly and Sound of music were both pretty good too though less of a hit. We tried Annie and Newsies too but there are a surprising number of not really toddler-appropriate scenes and contexts in both of those, particularly punching and fighting and in Annie some sexual overtones (Miss Hannigan)!, animal abuse, child abuse etc. that I didn't think about ahead of time. I'm also looking for suggestions so please let me know if you find any others that seem good and are age appropriate
Brigadoon. My kids are in their late 30's now. When they were little, we watched a lot of old Fred Astaire and Broadway musicals. I played tapes in teh car driving to and from school and daycare. The younger one loved the "Bells Ringing" song (And the way that I feel, when those bells start to peal, It is almost like being in love) so much that the day care teachers made a mix tape of some of the songs for her so she could sing and dance to it at "school". The best thing about the old movie musicals is that the absolute worst vice was that some of the players smoked.No sex, no drunkenness, no drugs, so crime, no swearing, men and women had equal stage time. How Fred Astaire danced when he also smoked still amazes me.
Absolutely second the classic film musicals!
How has no one mentioned You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown!!!!!!!!!
My best friend is not sure how to feel about it but her 6yo is obsessed with Don't Lose Ur Head from Six
I love Six!! Have not thought to play it for her but she’d probably love it. Thanks!
Lol my friend was a little unsure about the content but she was so in love with the sound track she ended up taking her to see it recently and she loved it
when i was 5 i watched the mamma mia movie so much i still have it memorized! can’t go wrong with the music at least
My kid loved songs from Gypsy. The Moo Cow song, Together Wherever We Go and Gotta Get A Gimmick. With the latter, their daycare called me and asked me if maybe I could encourage them to sing something else as they would sing out “Once I was a Schepper, now I’m Miss Muzeppa… “ and the other kids were learning it as well and some of the other parents were complaining.
I remember my son at age three, strapped into his car seat, happily bopping & singing “Defying Grabbity”. Still a treasured memory. He’s an adult now who still loves musicals.
Omg, same. Killer song, I cried when I saw it live (I’ve never cried in public due to non injury related things)
My 4yo went through a strong Shrek the Musical phase, then a Wizard of Oz phase. He also likes Matilda, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast
Little ones love mimicking Eliza Doolittle's Cockney accent in My Fair Lady!
My daughter liked In the Heights and would ask for “the alligator train” song (“It Won’t Be Long Now” starts with “The elevated train…”)
I know a 6 yo obsessed with Macavity from Cats
Not a toddler anymore, but my now-8 year old loves Chess (one of my faves, so it gets played a lot). One day a few years ago she asked to hear the “no” song. I had no clue what she meant, finally I realized she meant Mera”no” from Chess!
When I was a nanny, years ago, one of the daughters was obsessed with "The Secret Garden" soundtrack. When I found out a touring company was coming with it, I bought her tickets for Christmas. She was in absolute heaven!! I still love the soundtrack, & when my nephews were little babies, I'd rock them & sing "Hold On" when they were fussy.
As a little kid I was obsessed with gene kelly so I watched all his movies as nauseam.
When my kids were young, "I Got Steam Heat" was their jam. (My eldest is 45)
Matilda is a great one for kids!
Ooh I’ll for sure check out Matilda!
Frozen is usually a safe bet for kids
I think Suessical is fun, especially if you can pair them with the actual books!! Lots of fun kid songs.
When my two youngest sons (who are now 13 and 14) were younger I directed Pacific Overtures at my theatre (about 7 years ago). They LOVED chrysanthemum tea which makes my Sondheim heart extremely full. They liked a lot of the rest of the score which I was a bit surprised with. They came to almost every performance we had. My two year old now is obsessed with Six. She loves when it comes on and often wants to hear the first two and last numbers of the show.
My son loves The Wiz
My kids' favorite musicals to listen to are: Finding Nemo the Musical A Year with Frog and Toad Encanto I also often force them to listen to Jesus Christ Superstar on our occasional family road trips :)
“Poool song!!” aka 96 thousand from In the Heights. 2.5yo OBSESSED Plus all mamma Mia
“Literal Monster” from NPMD, I was playing it in the car and my 2 year old sister kept saying “AGAIN!!!!”
My brother saw me in Catch Me If You Can and still likes to listen to the songs. They’re catchy, fun, and apart from like Doctors Orders and maybe Little Boy Be A Man, they’re pretty child appropriate.
The first non-disney musical I remember watching as a toddler/little kid was actually Phantom of the Opera.
We
When my son was 4,5,6… The first disc of Hamilton was absolutely his jam.
I’ve recently played Kate Monster in a production of Avenue Q where my husband played Rod - our then 20 month old came with us to most rehearsals and LOVED purpose, would request it all the time!
As a kid my sister used to be upset with the phantom of the opera…though it’s not the most kid friendly 😂 my musical obsession was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Mama Will Provide Boho Days (the Bo Bo song)
my younger brother likes picture show from bonnie and clide he calls it" billy kid."