Critics for The New York Times recently checked back on long-running Broadway shows to see how they were holding up. On ArtsBeat, we asked readers for their memories of the shows. These are excerpts from their responses.

Economics 101

My eighth-grade daughter became obsessed with “Wicked” after seeing [a number] performed on TV at the beginning of Macy’s Thanksgiving parade in 2003. She insisted that we see it on Broadway while Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel were in the cast. I pointed out to her that we’d have to travel from Boston to New York to see the play, and that that wasn’t cheap. She looked me in the eye and asked me how much I’d spent on Red Sox tickets for her two brothers over the years. A few weeks later, we took the train to New York for a Sunday matinee. JONATHAN

Massachusetts

Many-Layered Show

Thanks to CareTix from Broadway Cares, I had house seats for “The Book of Mormon.” (You pay twice the face value of the ticket, but the money goes to a good cause, not a scalper.) Aside from being one of the most consistently funny shows I have ever seen, I realized there were many sly references to classic Broadway shows: “The King and I,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Sound of Music.” So while everyone was laughing, I realized that I was hearing something more, like a high-pitched whistle that only dogs can hear. That Matt [Stone] and Trey [Parker] were working on so many levels just blew me away. JLASF

San Francisco

Wanting to Be Pippin

“Pippin” was my first Broadway musical. My mother fell a little in love with Ben Vereen in the famous TV commercial and insisted we see it. I think I wasn’t quite ready to accept the ending. Teenagers are Pippin and don’t want to settle for the “ordinary” life in the suburbs, though that is what most of my cohort got. At age 59, I have an amused resignation. A. C. W.