The Red Barn Theatre presents “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown,” the final production of its 47th season, as Charlie Brown — along with all the other Peanuts characters — take the stage May 1-3.
Shows are Friday, May 1 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 2 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m.
The show was a Broadway hit in the late ’60s, and again in revival in the late ’90s, garnering three Tony Awards. It has become one of the most-performed musicals in American theater history, celebrating its 58th year of entertaining audiences.
The Red Barn’s production features young musical theater students from Camp Bravo, a group of second through seventh graders from area schools. Daniel Goldberg will play Charlie Brown, Olivia Blass will play Lucy, Cody Hawks will play Schroeder, Annabel Garrido plays Snoopy, Rowan Thompson is Linus and Virginia Spottswood takes on Sally. Joining them as part of the ensemble are Zadie Haskell, Romy Witherow, Scarlet Smith, Mila Fernandez, Isabel Marrero and Uma Simon.
The show is co-directed by Lauren Thompson and Amber McDonald Good.
“These kids are really inspiring because they are fearless,” Thompson said. “All the inhibitions we have as adults, they don’t have. Their minds are not cluttered yet; they’re so much more adept at connecting openly and easily.”
The show – a series of vignettes featuring songs and choreography — follows Charlie Brown, the eternal blockhead, as he and his gang suffer through disastrous baseball games, infuriating book reports, and – of course – the humiliation of trying to kick a football out of Lucy’s hands. But as trying as all that may be, in the end they remind each other – and us – that happiness is all around us.
“The best part of the show,” Thompson said, “is that cartoonist Charles Schulz had an ability to draw his characters in deep and meaningful conversations about human beings and how we each may see things and how we’re emotionally different from one another. It’s really wonderful to have kids do this, because they’re learning as they’re doing the show. It’s an important time for conversations such as these. For them and for us.”
The music and book for the show were originally written by Clark Gesner with later additions by Andrew Lippa, who also wrote “The Addams Family.” Musical direction for the Red Barn production is by Nancy 3 Hoffman, with choreography by Penny Leto. Sushi will be making all the costumes.Tickets are limited and available at redbarntheatre.com or from the box office at 305-296-9911.
