You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
The
current show at the Stadium Theatre by
Encore Repertory Company is the 1999 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 out 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 the days of his
life from Valentine's Day to baseball season,
from wild optimism to utter despair. They
include all 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 Jonathan
Brennan infuses this show with high energy
from his multitalented 11 member cast while
music director Alex Tirrell not only plays the
keyboards but taught the glorious music and
soaring harmonies to the cast and Sara Norman
supplies the topnotch choreography which
combined together gives the wonderful finishing
touches to a fantastic evening of
family entertainment.
Jon
directs the show wonderfully with his inventive
blocking and keen eye for comic situations.
He casts all the roles beautifully and he sets
the show in 1963. I directed him when he was
seven years old in "Three Pills in a Bottle" at
the Jewish Community Center in 1990. Alex not
only leads a five piece orchestra but plays lead
keyboards and taught the cast the beautiful
harmonies, making them sound topnotch. Sara's
dances are seen in the opening number, the
blanket song, the Beethoven song, the baseball
song and "Suppertime". Leading this cast
is Ryan Leverone as Charlie Brown. He is a
terrific performer who captures the essence of
the character with wonderful facial expressions
to display his various emotions of hurt,
disappointment, longing and
eventual happiness. Ryan's comic side shines
through in the lunch scene with the lunch bag on
his head, in the kite scene when it flies
away and his interactions with Snoopy and the
other characters in the show. He shows off his
marvelous voice in solo moments which include
his jazz section in "You're a Good Man, Charlie
Brown", "The Kite'', "The Doctor Is In", "The
Book Report" and "The Baseball Song". Lucy is
excellently played by Alura Plante who is a cute
brunette. She is very comical in the "Schroeder"
song, she sings to him about marriage while he
plays "The Moonlight Sonata". Alura 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 Ryan and "Little Known Facts"
while giving Linus the craziest explanation that
snow falls up and hitting your head on the bark
of trees makes them grow faster which makes
Charlie Brown bang his head with his
frustration at her crazy explanations. I
reviewed her back in 2001 when she played one of
the children in "The King & I" at
Theatre-by-the-Sea.
One of
the biggest scene stealers in this show is Dominque
Doiron as Snoopy. I reviewed him in this show
when he was a student at RIC in 2000 and he
played Linus, I also reviewed him as Bobby in
"Company", too. His tenor voice is magnificent
and his dog costume is a hoot. Dominque's comic
timing and facial expressions are outstanding in
all his vignettes especially in the crabbiness
survey when he gives Lucy thumbs down plus
a raspberry. He stops the show with "Suppertime"
while doing a soft shoe with top hat and is also
hilarious in "Snoopy" song when he wants to bite
someone and in the "Red Baron" monologue when he
climbs on top of his doghouse to shoot the World
War 1 Fokker triplane out of the sky while a
black and white video of the real Red Baron
plays in the background. Hannah Schott
plays the role of Sally Brown and is marvelous.
She makes Sally a strong girl who knows her own
mind and demands that Snoopy help her hunt
rabbits. She and Dominque dance to various songs
during the chase and at one point they run
through the audience. Another funny moment is
when she gets a D on her hanger design at school
and creates a philosophy of her own to disagree
with everyone. Hannah sounds like Kristen
Chenoweth and her "My New Philosophy" number
stops the show with her fantastic voice. She
also sings "Home on the Range" with the
chorus after Linus calls her an enigma.
Brian
Lopes plays Schroeder wonderfully. He not only
gets to sing the lead 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.
Brian scat sings in the Beethoven number while
he and the cast do a jazz dance to it. He also
sings a section of "New Philosophy" with Hannah
and the Robin Hood section of the "Book
Report". Zach McGrath plays Linus marvelously.
He does a fantastic tango and polka with his
blanket in "My Blanket and Me", sings the
philosophical section of the "Book Report" and
is very funny in the Queen scene with Lucy when
she punches him in the stomach. He also has a
poignant moment with her at the end of the
crabbiness scene. Other characters include
Patty- Tara Feeley, Violet-Katie Miller who I
reviewed as Jo Jo in Seussical 5 years
ago,Freida- Alexandra Dutremble who I directed
in "My Song Lady" in 2005, Brettny St. Peter as
Lucinda and the Little red-headed girl and
Michael Martins as Pig Pen. They add their
beautiful singing voices and wonderful dancing
to this show. The whole cast sings the poignant
"Happiness" which leaves tears in your eyes. So
for a rousing rendition of the beloved
characters from the Peanuts comic strip be sure
to catch "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". It
brings back many happy memories when I first
directed this show in 1979.
''YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN (May 1 to 2, 2010)
Encore Rep, Stadium Theatre, 28 Monument Square, Woonsocket,RI
1(401) 762-4545 or www.stadiumtheatre.com