|
The summer show at Bay
Colony Productions is the 1999 Broadway revival version of "You're a
Good Man, Charlie Brown" which is based on Charles Shultz's beloved
"Peanuts'' comic strip. The revival opened on February 5, 1999 and made a
star of Kristen Chenoweth, winning her the Tony Award for best featured
actress playing the role of Sally Brown. The show takes us through an
average day in the life of Charlie Brown. The audience catches glimpses of
their favorite characters and includes many moments from all the days of
his life from Valentine's Day to baseball season, from wild optimism to
utter despair. They include all of his friends, both human and non-human
and strung together on the string of a single day, from bright uncertain
morning to hopeful, starlit evening. Director/choreographer Dori
Bryan infuses this show with high energy from start to finish with her
multitalented 8 member cast while music director Fred Frabotta not
only conducts his three piece orchestra but plays the keyboards and taught
the glorious music to the talented cast. The bright and colorful costumes
by Daniel Kozar are the perfect finishing touches to this fantastic
evening of entertainment that the whole family can enjoy together. The
show is rewarded with a standing ovation at curtain call.
Dori makes this show sparkle and shine with her inventive blocking of
each vignette and choreography skills. The excellent dances
include the opening number, the blanket song, the Beethoven song, the
baseball song and the show stopping "Suppertime"(with the other cast
members joining Snoopy using supper bowls for hats) are splendid and
the cast does a dynamite job with them. Fred makes them sound topnotch in
their songs and his orchestra complements the performers without
overpowering them. Michael Texieira built the playground set
complete with swing, slide and seesaw. the psychiatrist booth and giant
doghous . He is tech director and stage manager, keeping things
moving smoothly all night long. Ed DiMarzio does the sound while Mike
also lights the show expertly with Kathleen Comber on the lighting
board. Gail Gilman handles the many props including the Valentines, supper
bowls, canes and baseball gear, too. Leading this cast is Bill
Cunningham plays Charlie Brown. He is a multitalented performer
who captures the essence of the character with wonderful facial
expressions to display his various emotions of hurt, disappointment,
longing and eventual happiness. Bill's comic side comes through in
the lunch scene with the lunch bag on his head, in the kite scene when it
gets caught on Lucy's neck and his interactions with Snoopy and the
other characters in the play. He shows off his terrific voice in solo
moments which include his section in the title number, "The
Kite", "The Doctor Is In" and "The Book Report" and "The Baseball
Song". Lucy is excellently played by Marissa Silva who is a gorgeous
brunette and recently won a Motif award for playing Rizzo in
"Grease". She is very comical in the "Schroeder" song while he
plays The Moonlight Sonata, she sings to him about marriage.
Marissa also shines in the Crabbiness survey and the Queen segment, too.
Her counting of the words in the Peter Rabbit book report song is
hilarious as is "The Doctor is In" with Bill and "Little Known
Facts" where she tells Linus the craziest explanation that snow
falls up and hitting your head on the bark of trees
makes them grow faster with Charlie Brown banging his head in
frustration at her.
One of the biggest scene stealers in this show is Adam Joy as Snoopy.
His dog costume complete with tail by Daniel is hilarious. His comic
timing and facial expressions are outstanding in all his
vignettes especially in the crabbiness survey when he gives Lucy
the raspberry with his thumbs down and in his solo numbers.
Adam's singing and tap dancing to "Suppertime" as an old time
vaudevillian stops the show (with the chorus in the
background) and is another feather in his cap. He sells his
lines with ease especially when he wants to bite someone in the "Snoopy"
song and in "Red Baron" monologue where he climbs on top of his
doghouse and threatens to shoot the World War 1 Fokker
plane out of the sky are a hoot. (The cloud background adds a lot to this
scene.) Jess Andra plays the role of Sally Brown. She makes
Sally, a strong girl who knows her own mind and demands that Snoopy help
her hunt rabbits. Jess and Adam dance after the rabbits to music from
Mission Impossible and Hawaii Five O. She is upset by getting a D on her
hanger design at school and creates a philosophy of her own to disagree
with everyone. Jess sounds like Kristen Cheneweth and her "My New
Philosophy" number stops the show with her fantastic voice. She also
sings "Home on the Range" after Linus calls her an enigma. with the
chorus.
Kevin Hanley who I reviewed as Peter last summer in "Superstar"
as well as Roger in "Rent" in 2007, plays Schroeder who not
only gets to sing solo in Home on the Range but in the newly created
revival show song called "Beethoven's Day" where he wants the principal to
declare a new holiday. It is a rock song with bits of Beethoven music
interspersed in it. Kevin also sings the Robin Hood section of the
Book Report. Brendan Colcord who is majoring in musical theatre at
the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York is
Linus. He gets to do a soft shoe in "My Blanket and Me", sings
the philosophical part of "Book Report" and adds a lot to the chorus
numbers, too. Brendan adds a lisp to his character of
Linus, sucks his thumb and does a pratfall when Lucy punches him in
the stomach. The whole cast also sings the poignant "Happiness" which
leaves tears in your eyes! Mary Arruda as Marcie and Candice
Sampson as Little Redhaired Girl add their beautiful singing voices and
topnotch dancing to this, too. So for a fabulous rendition of the
beloved characters from the Peanuts comic strip be sure to catch "You're a
Good Man, Charlie Brown" in Foxboro. ( I directed this show several
times with the first one in 1979.)
YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN ( 7 to 16
August, 2009)
Bay Colony Productions, Orpheum Theatre, 1 School
Street, Foxboro, MA
|
