You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
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You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a musical comedy based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts. It originally premiered off-Broadway March 7, 1967[1] by Bob Balaban and Gary Burghoff, and first appeared on Broadway in 1971[2]. The score was written by Clark Gesner.
The musical was adapted for television in 1973[3], and a prime-time animated TV special based on the musical, also called You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, was aired on the CBS network in 1985.[4]
Contents |
[edit] List of songs
- "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" — Company.
- "Schroeder" — Lucy, sung over Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". About Lucy wanting to marry Schroder.
- "Snoopy" — Snoopy
- "My Blanket and Me" — Linus with Company, one of the primary dance numbers of the play, interestingly is the only part of the musical which contains a portion of "Linus and Lucy," the widely-regarded theme song for the Peanuts series written by pianist Vince Guaraldi. Features a fantasy of Linus and his friends with their own blankets.
- "The Doctor is In" — Lucy and Charlie Brown. About how bad Charlie Brown's life is and what he does wrong.
- "The Kite" — Charlie Brown (optional company background).
- "Beethoven Day" — Schroeder with Company, one of the two new songs in the revised edition. About Schroder trying to get Beethoven's birthday to be non-commercially celebrated.
- "Rabbit Chasing" snoopy and sally, precusor to "the book report".
- "The Book Report" — Company, the closing number of Act I. About the kids complaining about having to write a book report on "Peter Rabbit" in just two days.
- "My New Philosophy" — Sally and Schroeder, the second of two new songs composed for the revival.
- "T-E-A-M (The Baseball Game)" — Charlie Brown with Company. About the Baseball team being in the championship game and having Charlie Brown lose it.
- "Glee Club Rehearsal" — Company, sung over "Home on the Range"
- "Little Known Facts" — Lucy with Linus and Charlie Brown. About Lucyb teaching Linus false information and Charlie Brown trying to intervene
- "Suppertime" — Snoopy. About how much snoopy loves supper.
- "Happiness" — Company. Explaines hapiness as "...anyone and anything at all that's loved by you" and what makes the charectors happy
- "Bows" — includes a partial reprise of "Happiness," "Suppertime," and "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"
[edit] Characters
- Charlie Brown — a baritone
- Lucy van Pelt — an alto or mezzo-soprano
- Schroeder — a tenor or high baritone
- Linus van Pelt — a baritone
- Sally Brown — a soprano (revised edition only, this character was originally Patty)
- Snoopy — a tenor
[edit] The Original 1971 Production
- Gary Burghoff (Charlie Brown)
- Reva Rose (Lucy)
- Skip Hinnant (Schroeder)
- Bob Balaban (Linus)
- Karen Johnson (Patty)
- Bill Hinnant (Snoopy)
[edit] The Broadway revival
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown was brought back to Broadway in 1999[5]. Roger Bart as Snoopy and Kristin Chenoweth as Sally Brown (replacing the character of Patty) received Tony awards for their performances. The musical was also nominated for, but did not receive, a Tony for best revival of a musical. New dialogue was provided by Michael Mayer and the additional songs, as well as new orchestration for several existing songs, were provided by Andrew Lippa.
1999 Revival Cast:
- Charlie Brown - Anthony Rapp
- Sally Brown - Kristin Chenoweth
- Lucy van Pelt - Ilana Levine
- Linus van Pelt - B.D. Wong
- Schroeder - Stanley Wayne Mathis
- Snoopy - Roger Bart
[edit] Plot
ACT ONE
The play begins with Charlie Brown's friends discussing their opinions of him, each overlapping the other. Attention is then turned to Charlie Brown, happy and hopeful as usual. Today, everyone is calling him a "good man". This makes Charlie Brown happy, but he wonders if he really is what they say, as he has some inner questions on what a good man is. He decides to find out how he can really become a good person("Opening/You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown").
The next scene switches to Lucy and Shroeder. Lucy expresses her deep infatuation with the young pianist and asks him what he thinks of the idea of marriage. Shroeder is aware of this, but remains unfazed as he plays his piano. Lucy then replies in depression: "My Aunt Marion was right. Never try to discuss marriage with a musician."("Shroeder")
We now see Snoopy on top of his doghouse, relaxing vacantly and peacefully. This keeps up until he starts to daydream about being a wild jungle beast. In a few minutes, however, he is back to his peaceful state. ("Snoopy")
Linus now enters the play, holding his blanket and sucking his thumb. Lucy and Sally show up and mock him for this habit. Linus decides to abandon his blanket and move on, only to come running back to it in desperation. After the girls leave, Linus daydreams of a blanket fantasy where everyone can relax with their blankets. ("My Blanket And Me")
Charlie Brown appears again, trying to keep his unusually stubborn kite to soar in the air. Eventually, he succeeds in doing this, and enjoys a few minutes of this triumph before the notorious Kite-Eating Tree eats it up("The Kite").
After this trauma, Charlie Brown goes to see Lucy, who is at her psychiatrist booth. He, complying to her suggestions, says all the things he thinks of himself. Lucy then expresses her feelings, then clears it up by saying that Charlie Brown is unique the way he is, then asks for the five cent price("The Doctor Is In")
Later, Charlie Brown sees a happy Shroeder spreading the word of Beethoven's birthday and pulling together a celebration. He and company join Shroeder in the song of jubilation and clever lyrics("Beethoven Day").
At noon, Linus, Lucy, Shroeder, and Charlie Brown are working on their book reports on the Peter Rabbit book. However, they have different methods of doing them. Lucy is simply counting the number of pages, Shroeder is doing a "comparison" between the book and Robin Hood, Linus is doing an overcomplicated psychologic analysis, and Charlie Brown hasn't even started out of worry, and Sally and Snoopy are chasing rabbits("The Book Report"), ending the first act.
ACT TWO
The play returns to the first scene of the 2nd act. Sally is clearly cross about a D her teacher gave her on her homework assignment. In response, she has developed her "philosophy": "Oh, yeah? That's what you think?" Shroeder hears and asks why Sally is telling him. That quickly becomes Sally's new "philosophy", and she bursts into song about her philosophies. Shroeder, after failing to explain to her how philosophies work, leaves in bafflement while Sally contines("My New Philosophy").
Charlie Brown returns, and with his friends, plays the Little League Championship of baseball. After some mishaps, the team finally manages to make some progress. Charlie Brown now steps up to the plate, and despite his valiant efforts, strikes out and loses the game. It is revealed that this happened earlier, and currently, Charlie Brown expresses his deep sorrow to his pen pal.
Deciding not to let that ruin everything, Charlie Brown decides to go to the Glee Club run by Shroeder and cheer up by singing "Home On The Range" with his friends. Unfortunately, a fight ensues between Lucy and Linus over a pencil. Eventually, the fight spreads, and Charlie Brown decides to leave with his angry friends, leaving Shroeder and Snoopy the only ones singing("Glee Club Rehearsal").
Later, Charlie Brown comes across Lucy teaching Linus about nature the way she views it with outrageous opinions, such as bugs making the grass grow or eating eagles for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Charlie Brown tries to correct her in one little fact, but she retaliates with a false explanation, and Charlie Brown bangs his head against a tree in frustration("Little Known Facts").
That evening, Snoopy complains that he hasn't been fed yet, and begins to overcomplicate and dramaticize the matter until Charlie Brown shows up with his dinner. Not even apologizing for ignoring him, Snoopy bursts into song about his craving for supper until his master firmly tells him to eat his meal("Suppertime").
It is night now, and Charlie Brown is sad that he never did anything great to find out what being a "Good man" means. He then reflects on a pencil chewed on by his crush, the Little Red Haired Girl that he got. He decides that today hasn't been so bad, and he's done a lot of things that make him happy. As Charlie Brown expresses what makes him happy, everyone, touched by his love of life, begin to express what makes them happy as well. Right then, Charlie Brown realizes that being a "good man" means trying your best and making the most of the things you've been given in life. Lucy then says with sincerety that Charlie Brown is a good person, and his mission is fulfilled("Happiness").
The show ends in a curtain call with all the characters singing lyrics of the last three songs in the show.
[edit] External Links
[edit] References
- ^ IMDB info on off-Broadway opening
- ^ IBDB listing for 1971 production
- ^ IMDB 1973 television production
- ^ IMDB 1985 animated adaptation
- ^ IBDB listing for 1999 production
| Peanuts |
|---|
| Characters |
| 555 95472 | Charlotte Braun | Charlie Brown | Sally Brown | Eudora | Franklin | Frieda | The Great Pumpkin | Kite-Eating Tree | Lila | Little Red-Haired Girl | Marcie | Miss Othmar | Patty | Peggy Jean | Peppermint Patty | José Peterson | Pig-Pen | Poochie | Roy | Schroeder | Shermy | Joe Shlabotnik | Snoopy | Snoopy's siblings | Thibault | Linus van Pelt | Lucy van Pelt | Rerun van Pelt | Violet | Woodstock |
| Films |
| Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!) | A Boy Named Charlie Brown (feature film) | Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown | Snoopy, Come Home |
| Other Media |
| A Charlie Brown Christmas (album) | The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show | Linus and Lucy | Snoopy!!! The Musical | Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular | This is America, Charlie Brown | You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown | Peanuts in popular culture |Snoopy (computer game) |
| People |
| Vince Guaraldi | Donna Johnson | Bill Melendez | Charles M. Schulz |
