FAMILY : Quick-Paced ‘Lenny’ Gives an Easy-to-Tolerate Lesson

Going to see a children’s show at the Museum of Tolerance about a lion and a lamb who teach a lesson in peace didn’t sound particularly exciting. It would be worthy, certainly. Well-meaning, no doubt. And preachy, probably.

The show, “Lenny & Lori,” defied expectations, however. This quick-paced short musical play by William S. Leavengood, with lyrics by Clive Kennedy, turned out to be an entertaining kid-size vaudeville romp about an obnoxious lamb named Lenny (a very funny Bill Evans), who’s a comic with a big ego, and Lori (Deborah Kellar), a singing lioness.

When Lenny learns he’ll be working with Lori--and sharing a dressing room--he threatens to quit. He’s willing to co-star with fellow sheep, but not a meat-eater.

“Oh, what a perfect world it would be,” Lenny sings, “if only everyone was just like me.”

Lori’s pretty broad-minded, but cranky, grass-eating woolly lambs try her patience. “One thing I can’t tolerate,” Lori sings, “is people who can’t tolerate . . . other people.”

Prodded by producer Flavors (Evan R. Press) and after some verbal sparring--”You can’t consume your co-star. It’s in your contract,” Lenny points out--the two realize they have prejudged each other and join in a harmonious duet called “Tolerant Folks” (sung to the tune of “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)”).

The show is presented by Action for Kids, a group seeking to educate children about various social issues through multimedia entertainment. Directed by Ben Mittleman, it also features celebrity guest speakers and an opening act. A recent show began with talented singing brothers from Atlanta and charming off-the-cuff remarks about tolerance from the Clippers’ Harold Ellis.

* “Lenny and Lori,” Museum of Tolerance, Peltz Theatre, 9786 W. Pico Blvd., Sunday, March 19, 26 at 2 p.m. Call for additional Sunday performances through June 25. $4-$6; (310) 859-7292. Running time: 45 minutes.

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Say Uncle: After being a Saturday morning fixture on public radio station KPFK-FM (90.7) for 29 years, L.A.’s oldest children’s radio show, “Halfway Down the Stairs,” hosted by “Uncle Ruthie” Buell, is moving to a new time slot. Beginning Feb. 26, the show will air Sundays at 8:30 a.m. The move is part of the station’s recent administrative shake-up that resulted in program restructuring.

Buell hopes that new listeners, as well as families and educators who have been longtime fans, will tune in after the schedule change. Buell, an entertainer and educator who has been with the station since its inception in 1959, covers the kid scene with storytelling, songs, in-studio performances, interviews and book and music reviews. “The program’s philosophy,” she said, “is to create warm, loving, community-active beings.”