Broadway Bird

Bright green parakeet Louisa, who loves to “sing as loud as she wanted,” can’t get her big Broadway break, despite her lovely voice and aerial skills. “Sorry ’keet. You’re too small,” the poodle director tells her. But if “you gotta be big to be on Broadway,” it’s equally true that “you’re only as small as you feel”—classic advice Louisa receives from a veteran flamingo hoofer at theater hangout Sardine’s. Emboldened, Louisa wins the role of lead understudy in The Wizard of Weasel, then goes on for ailing star, Iguana Menzel. With an abundance of loving spoofery (Patty LuPony, Cheetah Rivera, and Otter McDonald all make appearances) and playful cartoon art that makes 42nd Street look like the happiest place on Earth, Timbers and Coburn create a punny love letter to the Great White Way for Broadway babies of any age. Ages 4–6. (May)