‘Charlie
Brown ’
thoroughly
enjoyable
If you’ve ever chuckled at a “Peanuts”
cartoon, chances are you’ll thoroughly
enjoy “You’re a Good Man, Charlie
Brown.”
And if you’re an avid reader of the comic
strip, then you’ll have a wonderful time
meeting some of your favorite people
tomorrow night as the play continues its
run Sept. 24 and 25 and Oct. I and 2.
The play, which was the concluding
production of this summer’s Carnival
Theater, is being performed each of those
nights on the University Theater main
stage beginning at 8:30 p.m.
And it is simply one of the most en
joyable, humorous and fun plays viewed in
this area for a long time
Review
By ART BUKHNKM.
Although the actors don't really look like
the characters they portray they aren't
even the right ages by the end of the
performance, they'll have you believing
they are the characters that appear in the
comic strip.
Part of the reason for this might be that
the play is a combination of Charles
Schulz’s daily comic strips and musical
sketches based on the cartoons. But, even
more than this is the attitude of the actors
They capture completely the essence and
spirit of the cartoon characters.
Jim Dodge as Charlie Brown is perfectly
wishy-washy; Bradley Trowbridge cap
tures Linus’ wisdom — but also his af
fection for his blanket; Jennifer Ann Pack
as Lucy is very believable as she makes
life miserable for everyone else;
Schroeder is equally well done by Randy
Bowser, who shows just the right amount
of affection for his piano and his Beethoven
bust; Lydia Lord is equally adept at
capturing the spirit of the play — but she’s
not the boyish Peppermint Patti. Lydia
plays a frilly, young girl — and does it well
but she’s just not Patti. It’s not her fault,
but rather an error on the part of Clark
Cesner’s adaptation.
The music is also equally well done. It
captures just the right mood, but never
distracts attention from the action on
stage.
in ine ena, tnougn, tne play really
belongs to Snoopy.
Craig Wasson, wearing a white sweater
and black pants, becomes the imaginative
dog before your eyes. From the play’s
beginning, when his barks are subtly
mixed with the cast’s first musical
number, the play is his.
The real show-stopper is Wasson’s
performance of “Suppertime!” — a
musical number performed by Snoopy as
Charlie Brown brings him his supper dish.
Wasson’s lively cavorting and romping
around stage, as the dog hams it up for
dinner, are excellent.
Other very memorable scenes include
“Snoopy,” in which Wasson performs his
first solo number of the night and begins to
capture the crowd, “The Book Report,” a
delightful piece in which Lucy, Linus,
Schroeder and Charlie Brown compose
book reports simultaneously — with each
one’s report reflecting the character —
and again the spirit — of the comic strip
people perfectly; ‘‘The Baseball Game,”
in which the cast, led by Charlie Brown
ekes out another defeat; and “Little
Known Facts,” a romp with Lucy as she
leads her little brother around the neigh
borhood and lets him in on some of the
little known facts about life (fir trees are
called fir trees because they give us fur).
All in all. Jim Chapman has directed a
real winner with this play. It more than
deserved the standing ovation it got the
night I saw the production. It is must
seeing for anyone that’s ever read
“Peanuts."