Steven McRae as The Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Now if you have a child who enjoys dance, then the Royal Opera House really is something special — because that’s where the Royal Ballet performs!
(I guess technically if you had a child who liked opera then the opera would also be of interest, only I’ve never met a child who liked opera - children are too sensible for that).
Our older daughter is mad-keen on ballet, and so we’ve been regulars at the Royal Ballet for the past couple of years. And so we’re pretty familiar with the big shows that are suitable for children. The same productions come round repeatedly - with different dancers of course - I’ll describe them below.
A quick note about the venue: the Royal Opera House itself is pretty majestic. It was built in 1858 and has been positively lavished with public money, spent in restoring and maintaining it. It had a big facelift in the 1990s, so the building is a really well-done mixture of the modern and the 19th-century. In spite of the amounts of shiny and twiddly decorative bits in the old section - including one of the most decorative lifts (elevators) that I’ve ever seen - it generally manages to steer clear of chintz. Also, the auditorium is - even by the standards of London theatres - absolutely massive, seating over 2,000 people - which, while it might not be a lot for a rock concert, feels like a lot in a theatre. So anyway, going to the Royal Opera House is in itself a bit of an occasion and a bit of an adventure, regardless of the production that you’re going to see.
There’s no dress code at all by the way - even though it is an ‘opera house’ - they do let you in wearing jeans and a jumper.
Looking down on the stage and orchestra pit from the amphitheatre seats.
The standard of dance is, of course, absolutely world-class - it’s very high, sometimes amazingly high. The dancers train rigorously - punishingly, even - from a very young age, and there’s an absolutely ruthless system of getting rid of anyone but the absolute best, as they come up through the ballet school. The dancers have a standard of fitness and skill which is incredible, and which must be comparable to Olympic gymnasts or Special Forces soldiers.
So - the big shows that we’ve been to, which will come round again, suitable for children, are Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. The Royal Ballet does The Nutcracker most Christmases, and the 2026 run is from 3 December 2026 to 13 January 2027. It’s also worth watching out for cool short-run shows that might be suitable for children in the smaller theatres on site.
Tickets and prices: the cheapest tickets are an absolute bargain at £7 to £10 a seat, depending on the show (£10 for The Nutcracker). For that price you get a seat with a restricted view at the stage end of the padded benches up in the highest level, the ‘amphitheatre’, or a standing place (recommended only for ages 15 and over). The bench seats further from the stage, which I recommend below, cost a bit more (£14 to £23 for The Nutcracker on 5 January 2027). The benches are pretty good with kids because there’s a bit of room to move about, sit on mum/dad’s knee, etc. Try to avoid being too close to the front of the stage as the proscenium arch will restrict your view of one side of the stage. Ideally go for the Amphitheatre Upper Slips (rows CC/DD), seats 1-20 (here’s a plan of the auditorium). Beware of unauthorised ticket resellers - best case, you’ll get ripped off, worst case scenario, your ticket might be totally invalid.
You’re safest buying direct from the Royal Ballet and Opera website - special offers are sometimes available.
But the cheapest/best-value seats sell out way in advance (months ahead). So unless you’re prepared to pay full-price for a ticket in the stalls, you need to book your seats a few months before you come to London. Get on the Royal Ballet and Opera’s email list, then they’ll tell you the date when booking opens for each production. Then book that same day.
If you can’t get a Covent Garden ticket at a reasonable price then look out for the live cinema events - they feed live video from the stage at the Royal Opera House to cinemas (movie theatres) throughout London, the UK and the world. You could also subscribe to their streaming service.
Right - the shows themselves:
Nutcracker (pic below).
Teenage heroine Clara receives a magic soldier toy (the nutcracker - it also cracks nuts) at her parents’ Christmas party from Drosselmeyer, a family friend and a properly-magic-not-just-a-conjurer type magician. In the night the toy comes to life and they both have a bunch of adventures…
Pros:
- The first half is really Christmassy, in a charming Victorian kind of a way, which is pretty cool, and there’s plenty of different things going on to keep your kids interested.
- There’s child dancers as part of the cast, which (if you have children who dance) gives them someone to identify with.
- There’s boys in it - so if you have boys then that’s probably good - and in the first half there’s a battle (between toy soldiers and mice, led by the Mouse King) which is obviously intended to have boy-appeal.
- The music is good, and there’s plenty of opportunities for the principal dancers to show their stuff.
Cons:
- The second half can drag a bit, and gets increasingly girly-girly and twee.
- This production dates from 1984, and it’s showing its age a bit.
So - first half good, second half a bit boring in places unless your kids go in for frills, sparkles and girly-girl-ness. But sittable-through for anyone over the age of 5.
Miyako Yoshida and Steven McRae as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince, in the Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(Pics up top - the Mad Hatter - and below).
Right, now this is a real contrast to Nutcracker. It’s a very modern staging, so it’s visually very exciting - interesting use of props, projection, clever scenery, etc.
In brief: Alice falls down the rabbit-hole, has hallucinatory/metaphorical type adventures with a range of colourful characters, comes back out again at the end.
Pros:
- Thoroughly entertaining, engaging and exciting for kids.
- Particular highlights to watch out for: The Mad Hatter (‘mad tapper’), the disappearance/reappearance of the Cheshire Cat, and the entertainingly rabbity mannerisms of the White Rabbit.
Cons:
- The music’s not particularly wonderful or memorable.
- All the fancy staging maybe takes something away from the dancing.
- There’s an abattoir scene which might be too gory for very young/sensitive children. Lots of fake blood and guts, and mad whirling chopping with big choppers/knives. On the other hand, I know kids who would love this, so YMMV.
So in summary: Maybe not so much a show for the hardcore ballet-fan - and therefore ideal for kids, particularly if they’ve maybe not been to a ballet before. Visually and in terms of the audience experience almost more like a West End musical, in some ways.
Child review: ‘Elsa’ (age 6) says “I liked the Mad Tapper best because he was fun and his clothes were funny!”
Sarah Lamb as Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Lauren Cuthbertson as Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Cinderella
OK, so Cinderella is really cool. The music (by Prokofiev) is beautiful and haunting, and the pace of the production gives enough time for the dancers to really show off their skills without the plot dragging.
It helps of course that everyone, even small children, know in advance what the plot is.
I’d recommend getting a DVD of this at home (or subscribing to the Royal Ballet and Opera’s streaming service, which has the Royal Ballet’s 2023 production) and watching it with your kids a few times before going to see the production itself. That way they’ll get to know the music and they’ll get more out of it when they do go to the actual theatre. If you’re buying a DVD then the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production is actually a bit better than the Royal Ballet production - the music is the same of course, but the Birmingham production’s staging is more adventurous and fun. (Still, the Royal Ballet version is very much worth going to see).
In spite of being a fairy-tale about a princess, it manages not to be too soppy (second half of Nutcracker, I’m looking at you here). There’s plenty of comedy from the Ugly Sisters and the Stepmother to keep the pace rolling along.
Watch out for:
- Cinderella’s dance with the broom (in the kitchen towards the start).
- The progress of the oranges and cakes at the palace ball.
- The seasonal fairies - each a short solo - which seem to have been inserted into the story pretty much point-blank (while Cinderella is changing costume from rags to ballgown).
- The Ugly Sisters in general. Actually funnier in the Birmingham version where they’re played by women rather than the more traditional (and more pantomine-like) cross-dressing men that the London version uses.
🛜 Free WiFi in the Royal Opera House’s café and bars.
