The cast of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, now playing at the Hanesbrands Theatre. (courtesy photo)
If you’re like me, and have a soft spot for the funny, bumbling, at times painful yet always endearing antics of Charlie Brown and his friends, you won’t want to miss No Rules Theatre Company’s delightful production of an updated version of the 1967 musical You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. With a talented cast and a host of amusing songs, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown appeals to a broad age range. It is a lighthearted musical with lots and lots of laughs and just the right amount of pathos. Children and adults giggle with glee at the antics of Snoopy and the gang and wait with bated breath and crossed fi ngers to see if this time, oh please let it be this time, Charlie Brown will fi nally hit that ball and win the baseball game.Augie Praley plays Charlie Brown with just the right amount of awkwardness, melting hearts with his constant struggles with the trials and tribulations of childhood. Carolyn Cole as Lucy van Pelt manages to steal every scene she’s in, playing Lucy’s queen-sized ego to perfection. Schroeder, played with energy and enthusiasm by Sean Maurice Lynch, provides just the right amount of entertaining seriousness to this young musician. In one of the harder roles, Joshua Morgan manages to convey the inherent confl ict in Linus, a philosopher in a child’s body, who is wise beyond his years yet still sucks his thumb and carries around a blanket. Kristen Graffo portrays Charlie Brown’s younger sister Sally with an enthusiasm and innocence that is a delight. And last but certainly not the least, Chris French as Snoopy is masterful. Wearing human clothes as his costume, French is able to make us believe he is a dog, and not just any dog, but in fact the iconic Snoopy. French, and indeed the entire cast, are adept at physical comedy. They can sing, they can dance and they can fi re off one-liners with ease. All the ingredients are in place to make this show a success.
I would be remiss not to mention the set. Surprisingly simple, with pictures and images from the original Charles Schulz comic strip, Ryan Wineinger has created a set that can be manipulated and moved about to create different settings and confi gurations for the different scenes. It is the perfect backdrop to a musical about Charlie Brown and his friends, which like the comic strip on which it is based, is a deceptively simple, delightfully amusing yet wise commentary on what it is like to be a child.
You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown is directed by Matt Cowart and is the fi rst Winston-Salem production for the No Rules Theatre Company (NRTC). NRTC is based in Washington DC and Winston-Salem. For more information visit norulestheatre.org.
