You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown review in Stage Whispers

One of my night time alter egos is a director within the dark realms of Sydney amateur theatre. Recently I directed a production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown with Shire Music Theatre.

The show is a favourite amongst musical crowds, and to tamper with it is to bring upon certain death. So, tamper I did.

Not much. Just a little.

I decided to go for a slightly different approach to the Broadway production (bare stage, minimal props, which works quite nicely). I infused my love of Michel Gondry, kids pop-up picture books and indie-pop aesthetic to make a very twee-looking Charlie Brown. The set featured a lot of cardboard and scrunched paper, all the costumes were perfect and I was happy. We sacrificed a bit of speed in early performances and had a few teething problems, but it was a great show and I’m proud of it.

In saying that, here’s the review from stage whispers magazine…

You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner, with additional dialogue by Michael Mayer.
Shire Music Theatre. Sutherland Memorial Arts Theatre. (NSW) March 27.

If you haven’t come across this show, basically it’s a day in the life of Charles M Schultz’s Peanuts characters, sometimes in comic strip-like vignettes, sometimes in song. The group of six-year-olds, plus beagle, played by young adults, also bear many adult traits.

Mostly delightful, the only things that momentarily spoiled Shire Music Theatre’s production of this simple charm piece were over-complicated directorial and design choices. Originally an Off-Broadway show staged with minimal props and effects, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown usually has a snappy fluid flow, with smart changes between its vignettes, often as tight as a cross-fade, ensuring a bright, lively entertainment. Director Luke Murphy and designer Ross Howie didn’t embrace this.

That said, when the pauses were done with, the entertainment was brisk, bright fun. Chae Rogan was an appropriately hang-dog Charlie Brown; Chiz Watson a bright, abrasive Lucy; Malcolm Christian a lively, knowing Snoopy; Tim Watson an engaging, likeable Linus and Duncan McDonald a suitably intense Schroeder. The standout performer, for mine, was Jennifer Parbery, sparkling and charismatic as Sally Brown.

Musically, M.D. Dean Turner, his combo and the performers did a snappy, terrific job of the music.

Performance moments in darkness, when specials seem called for, were presumably first night technical bugs.

Neil Litchfield

While I’m not too pleased with some comments, I am quite chuffed with others. The preview night was a bit sloppy set-wise because of lack of time to prepare. We ironed out the bugs and had the show running smoothly from the opening night onwards. It’s a shame that Neil came on the ‘technical difficulties’ night and not another night.

I could stand here all day and defend the negative, but at the end of the day it achieves nothing. The cast were great and it was a pleasure to work with them!

And hell, if he didn’t like these design choices, wait till he sees my interpretation of ‘Sound of Music’, set to hip hop choreography and set in the old west.

The hills be alive y’all.