This kids' stuff is serious business

What’s the toughest ticket in Charlotte this weekend?

If you think it’s Black Eyed Peas, you’re wrong: Their concert at Time Warner Cable Arena on Saturday still has plenty of open seats.

Meanwhile, none are available for two of the four weekend performances of “Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel” by Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s Tarradiddle Players. And tickets for William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” which CTC bows tonight … well, if you don’t have some already, you’re out of luck. Its entire eight-show run is sold out.

Part of the reason tickets to “As You Like It” were gobbled up is because only 100 were allotted per show; it’s being done in “promenade” style, so the audience will move around ImaginOn’s open spaces with the actors.

But Children’s Theatre – which has been staging shows since 2005 at ImaginOn – definitely is on a hot streak despite the sagging economy.

Last fall, its season opener, “Beauty and the Beast,” sold out 18 of 21 shows at ImaginOn’s 570-seat McColl Family Theatre. In December, “If You Take a Mouse to the Movies” had eight sellouts over 14 performances; Children’s Theatre audience services director Rob Odum says it “was probably the biggest holiday show – in terms of audience numbers – in our history.”

Performances of those and other popular shows have been added on the fly to accommodate demand, Odum says, but they try not to overdo it. “We don’t want to feel like we’re growing so fast too that we sacrifice the quality of the work.”

Looking ahead, certain performances of CTC shows in March (“Treasure Island”), April (“Good Night Moon”), and May (“The Commedia King Arthur”) have already sold out.

So here’s a tip: If you have kids who enjoy theater, buy now, because StubHub can’t help you on this one.