Kidults  (Audio CD) 
by Mandy Patinkin

As its hybrid title suggests, Kidults by Mandy Patinkin can't decide how cozy it wants to get with any one generation. Depending on your chronological perch, it plays as either an especially lively grownups' record or a sophisticated and glamorous-sounding kids' disc. The fact is, it's both. Patinkin, at his dramatic Broadway-belter best, sails into this album on what sounds like a sentimental journey. "If I Only Had a Brain," its opening notes sprinkled like forget-me-nots in front of a later track, takes the artist back, tripping a 16-track meditation on childhood and growing up. "Singin' in the Bathtub" doesn't get more melodious (or theatrical) than this; rarely has such a swanlike rendition of "The Ugly Duckling" been recorded; and "A Tisket a Tasket" skips along merrily, the way it's supposed to, until Patinkin unscrambles its springlike lyrics and lets loose with his Tony Award-winning vocal high jinks. Mid-disc, a couple of pit stops on adult turf momentarily snap the giddy, kid mood--the melancholy "Cat's in the Cradle" creeps in on the heels of "Japanese Sandman," and "Time in a Bottle" anchors the otherwise sky-high "School Days Medley"--but the somber "-dults" part of the record erodes without a trace, returning listeners old enough to ruminate to the land of sunny days and high spirits via "April in Fairbanks" and "Rhode Island Is Famous for You." Contributions on three tracks by fellow Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth keep Patinkin in superb vocal company. On a disc that can't shake the shackles of age entirely, a dedication at liner notes' end speaks volumes about its efforts to wiggle free: "For my grandchildren," it reads. --Tammy La Gorce