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This version of the perennial favorite collection of sketches and songs that
Clark Gesner built out of the characters created by Charles M. Schulz
features, as advertised, an all male cast. What, you ask, about Lucy and
Patty? Well, Lucy is brought entertainingly to life in all her
self-centered, egotistical and insensitive glory by Don Garapolo while
Patty, who never really has much of a character in the script for the show
and never has a song of “her” own, is acceptably played by Todd Katschke.
The unorthodox casting does give new meaning to Lucy’s desire to grow up to
be “the biggest queen in the world” and that small bit is staged with a
knowing wink. But, other than that, this is a (you should pardon the
expression) straight-forward presentation of the cute little show.
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Storyline: A day in the
life of Charlie Brown begins as he is, of course, late for school. He
suffers all the trauma of lunch-time and the angst of wondering if the cute
little redheaded girl will notice him. While his dog fantasizes, his family
and friends go about their daily routines. He struggles with a kite,
undergoes psychotherapy from “the doctor is in” Lucy and attempts to inspire
his baseball team to avoid a total failure of a season. In the end, he is
assured by all assembled that he is, in fact, “a good man, Charlie Brown.”
Despite the assurances of
the rest of the cast that their Charlie Brown is a good man, Jim Gruschus
presents him as much too whiney. As written, he is angst ridden but
resilient and incurably optimistic. Little of this comes through in Gruschus’
performance. Still, he sings well and provides the rest of the cast with a
focus for their various activities.
Chuck
Walker is a rock solidly funny Linus and Eric Belkengren brings a strong
voice if less strong comedic acting skills to the role of piano-playing,
Beethoven-loving Schroeder. At the performance we saw it was C. Paul Heins
on the piano accompanied by percussionist Steve Collins. They all perform on
the brightly colored, simple setting of colored blocks and, of course, a dog
house.
The
most fun during the show’s first weekend, however, came from Carl Baldwin as
Snoopy. He will return to the role for the final weekend but will be
replaced by L. Owen Taggart for the weekend of October 9-12. Taggard will
have big paws to fill. Baldwin’s performance as the daydreaming pooch with an appetite is a real
pleasure. In the Red Baron sequence he sells the conceit of a beagle flying
his dog house into battle in the skies of World War I
France with a gleam in his eye. Finally, he
really breaks free in the biggest number of the evening, the take off of the
legendary “eleven o’clock numbers” of big musical comedies, “Suppertime,”
which comes - as it is supposed to - just before the ensemble assembles for
the finale.
Music lyrics and book by
Clark Gessner. Directed by Angie Prater. Musical direction by Jeff Buhrman,
Choreography by Stefan Sittig. Design: Kit Grieder and Stuart Kopperman
(set) Eric Johnson (costumes) Marianne Meadows (lights) Barry Bugg (stage
manager). Cast: Carl Baldwin or L. Owen Taggart, Eric Belkengren, Don
Garapolo, Jim Gruschus, Todd Katschke, Chuck Walker. |
