Entertainment

It you are a family that ever plans to get out and about, it is absolutely imperative that you subscribe to the English magazine, Roundabout, which describes all manner of activities that take place all over the Netherlands each month. Bigger shows that get international exposure, such as Mamma Mia, will go to Ahoy! in Rotterdam or to the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht.

If you like music or performing arts, Eindhoven has two musical centers: the Muziek Centrum Frits Philips, for classical and jazz, and the Stadsschouwburg for performing arts: musicals, dance, “circuses,” and children’s related theater.  The latter has far more programs for children than is immediately evident from the program on their website, though they are mainly in Dutch.  It would be worth stopping by their box office to pick up their program for children.

There are three main movie theater complexes and an “alternative” movie complex in Eindhoven.  More information about these can be found at: http://come.to/bioscoopagenda-eindhoven.  Note that at the Rembrandt theater, they still have a “pauze,” literally a pause in the middle of the movie so that the cigarette-lovers can run to the lobby and light up.  Movies targeting teenagers and up will be in English with Dutch subtitles; movies targeting younger children will often be shown in two languages if the first language of the movie was English.  Look for originele versie for the English version and NL gesproken for the dubbed, Dutch version.  There is also a two-theater “complex,” at the city center in Veldhoven.

If you can handle an occasional raunchy joke in the middle of some truly funny comedy, it’s worth getting out of Eindhoven and catching the Boom Chicago improv troupe doing their show in English on the Leidsesplein in Amsterdam.  They do a very good job of skewering the American, European and Dutch perspectives without pushing the envelope to disgusting or base insults.

Getting news in English about what is going on in the Netherlands, as well as assistance in understanding basic aspects of living there, can be challenging in Eindhoven. One valuable online resource is:
Expatica.com