I Just Shelled Out $513 To Take The Kids To See 'Annie'...

I'm not a big theater guy.

Despite being a native New Yorker, the last Broadway show I saw might have been "Beatlemania," back in the 1970s. (Great show!)

But my kids are into the performance thing. They're always staging "plays" and shooting "movies," etc.

So for a few years I have been thinking that someday I should take them to a Broadway show.

Then I sat next to a money manager at a dinner the other night who was raving about the new "Annie."

I had seen the movie "Annie," so I figured I could manage to sit through the play. I knew it would be expensive--one good reason to avoid Broadway is the mind-boggling expense--but I figured "Annie" wouldn't be more expensive than any other show. And I also figured there was relatively low risk that my kids would hate it (an important consideration). My kids had seen the movie of "Annie," and they liked that. And they had only seen the movie about seven times, so I figured they would be at least modestly interested in the play.

(Seven times is only moderate exposure for kid-repeat-viewing in the iPad age. Mine have probably seen "The Two Towers" fifteen times.)

So I decided to take the family to see "Annie."

I cracked open my computer.

The first thing I discovered is that buying tickets for Broadway shows is easier than it used to be. Last time I went to one, we had to go wait in line at the theater. Or Ticketron.

Now you just go to TicketMaster online and search for the show. And you get a calendar with dates.

Once you pick a date, you actually get to pick out your seats!

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