<p>I totally agree that you don’t need to go to Broadway to trigger a love of theater. When I started the thread, sharing the NYT article, I was thinking more along the lines of a kid who is ALREADY passionate about DOING theater and PURSUING it and the importance of seeing a lot of theater as part of their education. </p>
<p>My kids didn’t start with seeing a Broadway show. In fact, I don’t recall what shows they may have seen when very very young. However, my oldest D was in a professional musical at age 5. Then, she was in another one at age 6. Due to the distance for rehearsals, we had to stay at each rehearsal and so younger D who was 4 was watching and so badly wanted to also be in this show. They put her in the show. And from that point forward both were in shows a lot and D2, we could tell when she was so young that this was her life’s calling. I even recall her nursery school end of year report (narrative evaluation) talking about D2 going into this field!! 
So, for my kids, the love of theater really began with DOING theater, and I guess they saw local shows, all before they saw a Broadway show when they were in lower elementary school by then. </p>
<p>In any case, if you plan to DO theater, your education/training is enriched by seeing LOTS of theater of all kinds and levels.</p>