Sunday’s matinee of Mary Poppins usually sees an audience filled with children, but this past Sunday was one of the most special audiences of them all. Autistic children, filling all ranges of the extremely wide spectrum that the disorder encompasses, filled the New Amsterdam Theatre to watch the afternoon performance, make all the noise they wanted, and even wander off to special areas set aside for them. The tweaks made for the audience, some say, made the show even better and the performances put on by the cast and crew were never more heartfelt as they put everything they had into this very special showing.

The show was the second to be put on by The Theatre Development Fund, an organization that’s dedicated to ensuring arts, drama, and music are available to all children, even those who may not be physically unable to sit quietly through an entire production. During the show children are free to chirp, moan, shout out, and in short, just be themselves while they enjoy one of the most beloved children’s stories of all time.

Aside from the play, there are all sorts of things for kids to do including coloring books, small toys that need something to keep their hands busy, assorted games, and different puzzles. For those who are feeling a bit more rambunctious, activity areas were set up where kids could let off some steam; and for those who had had enough for a little while, there were calming corners. Theatre staff members stood on each corner of the stage and held up green glow sticks when a particularly loud portion of the play was coming up, although some sounds and lights during the performance were dimmed to accommodate the patrons. All of it was to ensure that everyone created memories to last a lifetime of their afternoon on Broadway, and no one left disappointed.

Each autistic-friendly show that The Theatre Development Fund puts on brings another opportunity for them to see ways they can improve it and make it even better for this unique audience. The first time they tried the concept was for a showing of The Lion King in October, and that also saw wild success. The next autism-friendly showing will also be of The Lion King, planned for this coming September.