This Christmas season, the Phoenix Theatre for Children is offering a family- and child-oriented theatrical presentation in their show Madeline’s Christmas, open now at the Riffe Center (located at 77 S. High Street). The musical features the beloved characters of the popular children’s books written by Ludwig Bemelmans.

Madeline’s Christmas brings audiences of adults and children alike back to Paris, France and the twelve girls who leave the house everyday in two straight lines, as well as the smallest of the twelve, a little girl named Madeline, who is not afraid of anything—not even wild animals. The show opens with a visit to the zoo, which makes all of the girls very excited, but in all the excitement everyone has forgotten her scarf but Madeline. With Christmas just around the corner, everyone in the house falls ill except for Madeline, who offers to take up the duty of caring for her friends. All the girls want to be able to return home for Christmas, but cannot so long as they are sick. It then falls on Madeline to find a way to help her classmates become well enough to see their families at the holiday season.

The cast for Madeline’s Christmas is impressive and talented. Madeline is played to perfection by the adorable Taryn Huffman, an eight-year-old from Olentangy. It is impossible to watch Taryn’s performance and not fall in love with the character of Madeline all over again. Madeline’s classmates are all played by child actresses from around the Columbus area—Emma Lou Andrews of Northland, Grace Babcock of Pickerington, Penny Dow of Grandview, Anna Haught of Upper Arlington, Eva House of Clintonville, Jane Kundu of Worthington, Nichola Lampe of Worthington, Amelia Naille of Grandview, Caroline Smyth of Worthington, Avery Stump of Olentangy, and Victoria Washington of Reynoldsburg. This entire group of actresses is a wonderful demonstration of the young talent here in Columbus. They have amazing chemistry with each other and are incredibly endearing. I dare you to see the performances of these girls and not smile. The three adults of the cast—Kim Garrison-Hopcraft of Westerville who plays Miss Clavel, Aaron Choi of Clintonville who plays Monsieur Brun/Harsha, and Pam Welsh-Huggins of Westgate who plays Mrs. Murphy—are the characters come to life. Their talent is also astounding and all three have an immense energy, which is clearly required to keep up with the youngest members of the cast. The cast as a whole is, simply put, absolutely loveable and a true testament to the talent available here in our own city.

Walking into the studio theatre in which the show performs is like walking directly into a Madeline storybook. The set immediately took me back to my childhood, even before the actors had arrived on the stage. The energy in the audience was palpable—some young girls even came dressed as Madeline, yellow hat and all. All the children in attendance were clearly more than thrilled to be experiencing the children’s book in real life. After the show they were all eager to meet the show’s young stars, who greeted audience members in the lobby.

In my opinion, this is the perfect holiday show for the whole family. For the adults in the audience who grew up on the Madeline stories, the show brings about wonderful memories of childhood. For the younger audience members, Madeline’s Christmas is a wonderful story with catchy tunes and actresses who are as young as they.

The show will be running through December 13 at the Riffe Center with performances on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. According to producers, this show is recommended for ages four and over. Tickets are available through the Ohio Theatre ticket office, Ticketmaster.com, and Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets can also be purchased by phone at 614-469-0939 or 800-745-3000. The Riffe ticket office is open two hours before each performance.