WASHINGTON — President Obama knows how to treat a lady.
Today he whisked First Lady Michelle off to the Big Apple and treated her to the leader of the free world’s version of a night on the town.
“I am taking my wife to New York City because I promised her during the campaign that I would take her to a Broadway show after it was all finished,” the president said after touching down in the city.
The commander-in-chief showed he was a man of his word, squiring the First Lady around town like a princess — first to a cozy Greenwich Village restaurant for A romantic dinner, and then up to the Theater District to take in a Tony award-nominated play.
The first couple left their girls, Sasha and Malia, behind this afternoon to board a small Air Force jet at Andrews Air Force Base.
The Obamas waltzed onto the tarmac dressed to the nines — Michelle in a sleeveless, black cocktail dress adorned with fringe and pair of low, strappy heels; and the president tieless in a dark suit and white shirt, with the top button open.
The couple landed at JFK Airport at 4:43 p.m., then boarded a chopper to the Wall Street helipad.
From there they ducked into a black limo and dashed up West Street and over to the swanky Greenwich Village restaurant Blue Hill off Washington Square Park as onlookers gawked and the president waved back.
The restaurant is known for its seasonal, farm-fresh menu where Maine crabmeat salad with dandelion greens goes for $18 and the grass-fed lamb entrée rings up at $36.
After the meal, the Obamas headed uptown to Broadway to catch August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at the Belasco Theatre on 44th Street — where the actors were anxiously awaiting their arrival.
“I’m nervous, excited, honored. It’s still unbelievable,” said Andre Holland, who plays the character Jeremy Furlow. “It’s like in Shakespearean times, when the king would come to the shows.”
Amari Rose Leigh, who plays young Zonia Loomis, said “I’m trying to think of it as a normal night but I have butterflies in my stomach.”
The show depicts the characters in a Pittsburgh boarding house in 1911, and chronicle’s one man’s struggle to make sense of his identity as a black man in America post-slavery.
Taxpayers footed the bill for the big night on the town, which included orchestra seat tickets at $96.50 apiece, and at least $24,000 for each of three aircraft — including two smaller aircraft for White House staff and reporters — used for the trip, sources said.
Obama’s jet, a fancy Gulfstream 500, served as a more modest Air Force One for the day in place of the customary presidential 747.
The NYPD refused to divulge the cost of providing security and the White House declined to say how much the trip was costing taxpayers.
Even before the smaller jet left Washington, the there-and-back trip drew criticism from the Republican National Committee, which questioned the president’s decision to travel to New York for a night of entertainment during a recession and while the nation’s automakers struggle to survive.
It was just a few months ago that auto execs were roundly criticized when they traveled to Washington for congressional hearings in pricey private jets, noted the RNC, which issued a news release chastising Obama for saying he understands American’s troubles but then hopping up to New York for a night on the town.
Additional reporting by Beth Stebner, Frank Rosario and Post Wire Services
churt@nypost.com