Sing-A-Long With Madeline
Madeline, every 3-year-old's favorite French orphan, may march to the beat of her own drum in the Ludwig Bemelmans classic, but here, as in her Disney TV show, she widens the parade route so legions of little girls can contribute their own rat-a-tat-tat. All that's required is a thinking chapeau. Of a whopping 27 songs, some of them barely a minute, around half carry a message. The lessons in tunes like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," "One Little Lie Leads to Another," "Do the Job Together," and "Hope Is All You Need for Christmas" conk even the littlest crooners over the head with their obviousness, but other tracks survey subtler concepts. "Pleased to Meet You" ("So let's review what we have learned, so easy to apply / You shake their hands, perhaps you bow, you look them in the eye") and "Company, Company" ("Your guests won't remember the sculptures of ice / They'd rather share laughter with someone who's nice"), for instance, tiptoe into musical charm school for munchkins territory. And a barely detectable geography lesson also wedges itself in: Miss Clavel's plucky cadre packs its vocal bags for "Jambo, Africa," ponders "What Would Paris Be Like Without the Eiffel Tower," and crosses the Brooklyn Bridge to head up Fifth Avenue for "The Ants Are Coming." No je ne sais quois about it--a peppier, more upbeat sing-along has yet to sashay across the continent. Swarms of future socialites will put down their teacups, retract their pointed pinky fingers, and politely demand an encore.--Tammy La Gorce