Theater Review: You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown at Imagination Stage
The Peanuts Gang photo by Margot Schulman
In one engaging musical number after the other, the talented, diverse, and beyond adorable cast of Imagination Stage’s You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown depicts the playground highs and lows of childhood so convincingly, audiences can do nothing but smile ear to ear, imbued with the indomitable spirit of Charles Schulz’s beloved Peanuts Gang.
Having enjoyed a recent Hollywood revival, Peanuts characters are as familiar to young kids today as when they first appeared in comic strip form nearly 70 years ago. All their quirks, trials, and tribulations explored in over 17,000 strips (according to Wikipedia), and several television specials, are also just as easy to identify with in this musical (originally produced off-Broadway in 1967 and starring Gary Burghoff, Radar from T.V.’s MASH). Whether it is finding the courage to talk to the cute girl at lunch, giving up childhood lovies, or coming through for your friends, everybody finds it a challenge sometimes. But when you do the best you can, everyone is better off for it---even if your name is Charlie Brown.
Christopher Michael Richardson is a stalwart lead who earns his friends and his audience’s love and loyalty. Stealing the show however, are rising regional star Awa Sal Secka as Lucy, and the very talented Erin Weaver (appearing earlier in Imagination Stage’s season this year in Alice 's Rock and Roll Adventure) as Charlie’s little sis, Sally. With performances so completely endearing, both actresses tempt audiences to reach out and pinch their cheeks--- or tweak their ears, as appropriate. Not to mention their awesome vocal prowess, as when Lucy sidles up to Schroeder (Michael J. Mainwaring) at the piano, or counts her words in the ensemble song about the painful process of writing a book report.
Lucy in love photo by Margot Schulman
As foil to Charlie Brown, Sal-Secka is an on target, righteous, yet sweetly vulnerable Lucy Van Pelt. Weaver’s Sally takes center stage with her hilarious performance of My New Philosophy, about determining the evolution of just how one should respond when the teacher gives you a “D”, and other disappointments in life.
It is just such disappointments, along with the occasional smooth sailing, Schulz focused on in his strips, and that really come to life in this production, directed by accomplished playwright Aaron Posner, in his Imagination Stage debut. The playful blocking, along with subtle choreography by Tony Thomas, including Charlie Brown’s The Kite, and Snoopy’s Red Baron scene are impressive. The wonderfully heartwarming Happiness is truly endorphin inducing, and Suppertime is a celebration of that end of the day meal, featuring Snoopy (Joe Mallon) and the rest of the Gang as jazz accompanists to Music Director Deborah Jacobson’s exceptional piano.
Out of the center of the action but still visible in the corner of the set, the piano takes on its own role, as the sounds of Schroeder’s Beethoven and the Peanuts theme fill the stage. The set, built mainly of large blocks that pay tribute to the original likenesses of the characters, the one act format, and the boldly colored costumes are also great choices that help honor the Gang’s origins and their creator’s sweet and simple message: we’re all human after all.
You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown with book, music and lyrics by Clark M. Gesner is at Imagination Stage now through August 12. Additional dialouge by Michael Mayer. Additional music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Recommended for all ages. The run time is just over an hour, with no intermission.
