REVIEW: “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at the Sharon Playhouse

REVIEW: “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at the Sharon Playhouse

by Paula Kaplan-Reiss

As a child, Sunday mornings meant rushing to the Sunday newspaper to read the brightly colored, always amusing comics, highlighted by the first comic on the page, Peanuts. All my friends loved the holiday animated specials on TV featuring Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and the gang, to the music of Vince Guaraldi. In 1967, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown premiered Off Broadway and was revived in 1999, winning a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical. What a treat to see the talented cast bring this endearing musical to life at the Sharon Playhouse.

Opening the musical with the title song, we are introduced to the entire cast: Charlie Brown (Daniel Plimpton), Lucy (Courtney Balan), Snoopy (Nicholas Alan Fernandez), Schroeder (Jason Williams), Linus (Sammy Pignalosa), and Sally (Hayley Podschun). Each character is dressed in brightly colored replicas of the outfits each wears in the strip, thanks to Costume Designer Kathleen Deangelis. Lucy and Sally wear wigs in readily identifiable brunette and blonde styles, respectively. Immediately, we recognize and know these familiar characters; the audience becomes engaged and smiles.

With no real plot, we see little comic strips come to life in delightful vignettes: Charlie Brown trying to fly a kite and get a valentine, while pining over the never seen Little Red-Headed Girl; Schroeder being obsessed with Beethoven, while ignoring Lucy’s advances; Lucy being obsessed with Schroeder while bossing everyone around; Snoopy dreaming about suppertime and fighting the imagined Red Baron; Linus never letting go of his blanket, while sucking his thumb; Sally, joining Snoopy on a rabbit hunt and struggling to find snappy comebacks to her critical teacher. A delightful score by Clark Gessner provides memorable tunes and lyrics which amplifies each character’s story and personality.