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You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN is the ideal first show for those who would like to do a musical. The cast is small and the routines are simple. There are many short scenes in this staging of a day in the life of Charlie Brown. Fun, laughter and sincerity build the mood.

Musical numbers include My Blanket and Me, The Kite, The Baseball Game, Little Known Facts, Suppertime and Happiness. Join the Peanuts gang in this fast paced, lighthearted musical, guaranteed to please audiences of all ages!

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Description

  • Full Length Musical
  • Comedy

  • Time Period: Contemporary

  • Accolades:
  • 2 Drama Desk-Vernon Rice Awards for Director and Performer, The Outer Critics Circle Award for Production
A program note says that the time of the action is “an average day in the life of Charlie Brown.” It really is just that, a day made up of little moments picked from all the days of Charlie Brown, from Valentine’s Day to the baseball season, from wild optimism to utter despair, all mixed in with the lives 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.

It seems to start off all right. After some brief comments on the nature of his character by his friends, Charlie Brown is swept into their center by a rousing tribute of only slightly qualified praise, in the song You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He is then left to his own musings as he eats his lunch on the school playground, complicated unbearably by the distant presence of his true love, the “little redheaded girl,” who is always just out of sight.

True love also seems to be the only unmanageable element in Lucy’s solid life, which we discover as we watch her try to bulldoze her way through to her boyfriend’s sensitive, six-year-old musician’s heart, in Schroeder. The little scenes then begin to accumulate, and we learn that Lucy’s little brother, Linus, is thoughtful about many things but fanatical when it comes to the matter of his blanket; that Patty is sweet and utterly innocent; and that Charlie Brown’s dog spends much if not most of his time thinking of being something else-a gorilla, a jungle cat, perhaps a handsome trophy or two-but that mostly his life is a pleasant one-Snoopy.

The events continue to trickle on. Linus enjoys a private time with his most favorite thing of all -My Blanket and Me, Lucy generously bothers to inform him of her ambition-of-the-moment, to become a queen with her won queendom, and then Charlie Brown lurches in for still another bout with his own friendly enemy -The Kite.

Valentine’s Day comes and goes with our hero receiving not one single valentine, which brings him to seek the temporary relief of Lucy’s five-cent psychiatry booth-The Doctor Is In.

We then watch as four of our friends go through their individual struggles with the homework assignment of writing a hundred word essay of “Peter Rabbit” in The Book Report.

Act Two roars in with Snoopy lost in another world atop his dog house. As a World War One flying ace he does not bring down the infamous Red Baron in today’s battle but we know that someday, someday he will.

The day continues. We learn of the chaotic events of the Very Little League’s Baseball Game as Charlie Brown writes the news to his pen pal. Lucy is moved to conduct a personal survey to find out just how crabby she really is, and all the group gathers for a misbegotten rehearsal of a song they are to sing in assembly.

It is suppertime, and Snoopy once more discovers what wild raptures just the mere presence of his full supper dish can send him into. And then it is evening. The gathered friends sing a little about their individual thoughts of happiness and then they go off, leaving Lucy to make a very un-Lucy-like gesture: she tells Charlie Brown what a good man he is.

None of the cast is actually six years old. And they don’t really look like Charles Schulz’ “Peanuts” cartoon characters. But this doesn’t seem to make that much difference once we are into the play, because what they are saying to each other is with the openness of that early childhood time, and the obvious fact is that they are all really quite fond of each other.

Premiere Production: You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown opened on March 7, 1967 and played for 1,597 performances in New York at the Theatre 80 St. Marks with Gary Burghoff in the title role. This version was revived on Broadway in 1971 and played for 32 performances at the John Golden Theatre.

Characters

  • Casting: 4M, 2F
  • Casting Notes: The original Broadway production had a cast of 6 performers. The show has no dedicated chorus. No doubling was employed.

  • CHARLIE BROWN
    LINUS
    SCHROEDER
    LUCY
    PATTY
    SNOOPY

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Perusal Material Shipped immediately. This is optional. Order Now

    1 x Piano Conductor's Score
    1 x Libretto-Vocal Book

    		$24.00
    Rehearsal Material Shipped a minimum of 3 months before the last performance. This must be hired as a condition of the License to produce this show.

    12 x Libretto-Vocal Books
    1 x Piano-Conductor's Score

    		 $550.00 +$135.00/pm
    Orchestral Material Shipped a minimum of 1 month before the last performance. This is optional.

    2 Violin I (optional)
    1 Violin II (optional)
    1 Viola (optional)
    1 Cello (optional)
    1 Bass

    1 Reed I: Flute I and Piccolo
    1 Reed II: Flute II
    1 Reed III: Clarinet I
    1 Reed IV: Clarinet II
    1 Reed V: Bass Clarinet &  Tenor Saxophone

    1 Horn (optional)
    1 Trumpets I & II
    1 Trombone

    1 Percussion:
    Timpani (1 Pedal Drum)
    Snare Drum (Brushes & Sticks)
    Bass Drum
    Tom-Tom (optional)
    Xylophone
    Vibraphone
    Bells
    Cymbals - Suspended
    Hi-Hat
    Triangle
    Wood Block
    Cow Bell
    Ratchet
    Slide Whistle
    School Bell
    Tambourine
    Kite Crash - Sound Effect

    1 Guitar (optional)
    Piano, Celeste, Toy Piano & Melodica 

    (Piano Conductor's Score sent with rehearsal material)

    		$350.00 +$135.00/pm
    Tams Rehearsal CD Shipped with (or after) Rehearsal Material. This is optional.

    Available for use in a standard CD player or CD-Rom drive and it contains the entire Piano-Conductor’s Score from your show. It can be used as your principal rehearsal pianist or in addition to your pianist for greater flexibility in scheduling your rehearsals. In order to provide maximum control over the piano accompaniment during rehearsal, the Tams Rehearsal CD is conveniently divided into separate tracks for each vocal break in a show and vocal cues are given where appropriate in order to guide and support the singers throughout the learning process.

    In addition to assisting in rehearsing your singers, the Rehearsal CD is an invaluable tool for your Choreographer. By effortlessly repeating the dance music at the right tempo, your Choreographer will be able to work out dance-step combinations with ease and precision.

    Sent with Rehearsal Set if ordered.

    		 $95.00

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