Pop Broadway Musicals: Family Fun?

I occasionally attend cultural events that I might not otherwise choose, in order to have some quality(?) time with Paul, 26, and Joyce, 22: A couple of weeks ago, our family (plus Lisa, Paul's fabulous girlfriend) belatedly saw "Spamalot," which was fine, except that I was way too "CultureGrrl" about it: I conscientiously prepared for it by renting the DVD of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," which I watched with Joyce. This meant that we heard a nearly verbatim replay, the next evening, of all the jokes that we had just heard at home. Unlike preparing for Shaw's "Heartbreak House" by reading it, this did not enhance my Broadway experience. Even Joyce often stayed silent while those around us laughed.

Tomorrow afternoon I go to "Wicked" with Joyce, who has always wanted to see it. My friends have warned me that their daughters loved it but I may be disappointed. Don't worry, though: I promise not to re-read "The Wizard of Oz" or watch Judy Garland.

I may be even more disappointed at an event that my husband and I had freely chosen to attend: Tan Dun's new work, "The First Emperor," which I'm seeing on Saturday at the Metropolitan Opera. Tan was panned---proving once again that It's always risky to buy tickets before the reviews are in.

But I'm not the only one: The performance is sold out and will be the third offering of The Metropolitan Opera Goes to the Movies. I'll get to see what it's like to be in the opera house when the HD cameras are rolling. (Any different from the brightly lit television tapings of yore?)

The first movie-house offering, which was an abbreviated, child-friendly version of "The Magic Flute" in English, was reportedly a success, but David Patrick Stearns, in today's Philadelphia Inquirer, criticized last Saturday's "I Puritani" as "less-than-screenworthy," because of its "dramatic stasis."

The experiment continues. At least the Met is not itself in "stasis."