Celebrate Broadway Vol. 7: Kids!

The seventh volume in the Celebrate Broadway series of discount-priced compilations of show tunes (originally assembled out of the RCA Victor Records catalog of original Broadway cast albums and other recordings of theater music) is called Kids!, but that should not be understood to suggest that this is a children's music disc. Rather, these are songs written for, or at least featured in, stage musicals that somebody thought had something to do with children, although the connection might be tenuous. The title song, of course, is from Bye Bye Birdie, and it's actually a lament sung by parents that asks, "What's the matter with kids today?" "I Won't Grow Up," from Peter Pan, and "Food, Glorious Food" from Oliver! are at least songs sung by children in those shows, and "Moonshine Lullaby" from Annie Get Your Gun is actually a lullaby, even if it points out that the children's father is a bootlegger. But in "Knock Knock" from Flora, the Red Menace has nothing to do with children except that children like knock-knock jokes; "Hair" from Hair has nothing to do with children unless you consider hippies to be children; and "Broadway Baby" from Follies is not about a real baby, even though in this case it's being sung by Daisy Egan, who was a child at the time. Not only is "Comedy Tonight" not related in any way to children, but the performance heard here is an instrumental. "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" from Carousel, meanwhile, is actually about, well, making babies. And what on earth is a medley of "Sixteen Tons" and "Chain Gang" from Forever Plaid doing on this disc? Clearly, the compilers haven taken considerable license with the theme. But that isn't to say that there aren't some delightful songs here, written by major Broadway songwriters and sung by such talented performers as Lucille Ball, Ethel Merman, and Mary Martin. ~ William Ruhlmann