Sunday, April 24, 2011
CHARLIE BROWN review by Isabel F.
“Happiness is…” seeing an amazing middle school production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”, at least for the people who bought out every showing of CMS’ school musical on an April weekend. Starring Johnny Kilcoyne as the title character, Charlie Brown was a well-rehearsed and charming show that brought the audience to their feet by its end. The show is set up as a series of skits resembling different Peanuts comic strips with songs providing most of the dialogue. Initially I was confused by the lack of plot, but soon understood that although each vignette was unrelated to those preceding and succeeding it, there was an overarching narrative theme: Charlie Brown’s personal development from a “Failure Face” to a kid with "self-esteem." The lead actor perfectly captured both Charlie Brown's initial depression and indecision about almost everything to his decision to take some risks and grow as a person. The show was augmented by the spunky characters of the Peanuts gang: Lily Hamilton as Lucy, who was both sassy and touchingly vulnerable; Alec Yamartino as Snoopy, quirky and very much a canine as well as a lead character; Joel Wilshire as Linus, the Sage with a blanket; Sarah Hession-Kunz as Sally, alternately adorable and bratty; and Bryce Bjork as the piano-playing Schroeder. All these young actors added their characters’ voices to the play as each got the chance to star in their own skits. There were many fabulous members of the chorus who danced and sang their way through the play as part of an impressively large ensemble and the live musicians, complex choreography and hard working crew made the production feel very professional.
The more minor characters also had a chance to shine in numbers such as "Hurry Up Face" where Serena Sabine performed a charming solo. The entire ensemble gave a showstopper performance in "Edgar Allen Poe" where Erin Brady especially displayed powerhouse vocals. Giving many performers starring skits produced a good amount of variety in the show; you never got sick of a particular character or style. However, I was occasionally confused throughout the show, because I didn't know what was going on with some of the stories or how one number corresponded thematically to the previous one. Yet as I reflected on the show after it was over, I came to appreciate its unique charm and the enormous amount of work that went into the production. Peanuts is, after all, a comic strip, and short stories are where the characters were designed to be strongest. My prior knowledge of Peanuts and the dynamics of the relationships between characters helped me keep track of what was going on. I'm sure this was necessary to most of the audience members. I don't think the format of the show would have worked with anything less familiar, but since Schultz's comics are childhood classics, the cast pulled it off well.
I am graduating from CMS this June and know firsthand how meaningful Mr. Kevin Shancady's productions are for the CMS community each year. He always does his best to cast as many kids from each grade as possible and tries to find a valuable message in each play. Charlie Brown’s peers insult and underestimate him but through perseverance and courage, he stands up to the bullies and they come to realize what "a good man" Charlie Brown really is.
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