Here's a special musical that is generally referred to as a flop, but which has been unfairly maligned (IMHO).

I think I've mentioned before that my youngest daughter Trinity, who is eight, just loves the Kander and Ebb musical Flora The Red Menace.

I guess I was a bit surprised since the subject matter is something she doesn't encounter much at school and the CD I have is an off-Broadway restaging from 1987 with just Kander's piano accompaniment. Not a lot of bells and whistles.

She was taken with Kander's famous vampy musical style and Ebb's engaging lyrics. In particular, she really enjoyed the song "Sign Here" which is sung by the character Harry who is trying to get Flora to join the Communist Party (free milk for kids, don't make cannon fodder of our youth, that type of stuff) and sings the refrain "It's clear, it's clear you're a communist, sign here!"

Now I know I'm not the first person to tout musical theater as a tool for teaching kids. But this is a perfect example. Musical theater can take on a complex subject and deliver it in a funny, entertaining way, giving kids the emotional and informational highlights that otherwise might be dry reading for them. It was my daughter who came to me after listening to the CD about twenty times (as kids do) and said "Mommy, what's communism?" We had a great discussion about communism, history, and the Depression that I'm sure would not have occurred without Flora as a catalyst.

This also reinforces the fact that kids don't need to be spoon fed music in their education. They are more than receptive to all kinds of music at an early age. They may not "get" everything right away but hey, isn't that part of a parent's job?

The only downside is that Trinity walks through the halls of her most definitely capitalist-oriented private school singing at the top of her voice "You're a Communist, Sign Here!" Kids will be kids...

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