With high-school musical season under way, moms and dads are cheering for their favorite Pippins, Annies and Tevyes in auditoriums across the country.

Buried in the crowd, trying to blend in, is a different sort: the adult with no connection to the school whatsoever.

“It’s a date for us,” said Bob Strobel, a 63-year-old mechanical engineer in Harrisburg, Pa., who goes to shows with his wife, Marie.

“Everybody does ‘Seussical’ a little bit differently,” he said.

The couple scheduled 17 high-school musicals this season, including three performances of “Into the Woods” over seven days. They squeezed in three high-school shows on March 7 alone—“Curtains,” “Cinderella” and “Peter Pan.”