Fall has arrived and Halloween is right around the corner. But did you know that this time of year is also prime time for children’s theater and music? My husband and I fell in love with live theater the year we lived in New York, and we feel so fortunate to have an abundance of opportunities to share this with our children. One of our favorite venues is Heritage Square Music Hall in Golden.

Heritage Square Music Hall has been entertaining audiences for more than 20 years. Children’s productions are geared toward kids as young as 3 years old. The shows are performed by professional adult actors and generally last about an hour. Each production is highly interactive with lots of audience participation, and children are often invited onstage to play certain roles. From now through November 5, Alice in Wonderland is the featured children’s show. My boys and I attended in September and we all thoroughly enjoyed the silliness of the show!

Performances take place each Saturday at 1:30 PM, with an occasional additional performance at 3:00. Tickets are just $6 per person, and seating is reserved.

Heritage Square Music Hall also offers year-round dinner melodrama theater featuring an extensive buffet (a new chef arrived a couple of years ago and the food is delicious!) and a family-friendly comedy followed by a musical and comedy revue. Dinner and a show can last four hours or more. Now showing is a comic adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Here’s a list of some other live theater and music options for your family to enjoy:

★ Lafayette’s Peanut Butter Players are truly preparing for a career in theater by performing AND serving food. The Lunch Bunch presents The Wind in the Willows, followed by lunch, each Saturday in October.
★ If you like puppets, check out Denver Puppet Theater’s performance of Hansel and Gretel now through November 27. Annie Zook has been entertaining Denver children with her one-of-a-kind, handmade marionettes for 15 years.
★ The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley reopens at The Arvada Center on October 13. Make time before or after the show to explore Squiggles Playground if weather permits.
★ The Younger Generation Players presents You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown: The Broadway Musical for one weekend only: October 14, 15, and 16 in Englewood.
★ CYT Denver’s cast is made up of youth ranging in age from 8 to 18 years old, many of whom have been been performing for several years and excel in both singing and acting. Your kids will love their musical version of Scrooge, playing at Parker Mainstreet Center October 19-29.
★ Front Range Theatre Company is performing a family-friendly version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” October 21-30 at The Grange in Castle Rock.
★ Theatergoers of all ages will love C.S. Lewis’s classic The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, performed by Curtains Up! Theatre Company in Wheat Ridge. Performances take place October 22 through November 19.
★ Join The Colorado Symphony orchestra members in costume for Halloween Spooktacular, the Symphony’s annual Halloween concert and costume contest, on October 30 at 2:30 PM. This is the opening concert for the Colorado Symphony Family Series.

Kyrie Collins is a local mom and the author of Playdate with Denver & Colorado’s Front Range, an adventure guide for parents, grandparents, and caregivers featuring nearly 200 local destinations. One of her talents is that she can say the alphabet backwards faster than most people can say it forward. To learn more about her book, please visit www.playdatewithdenver.com.