You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a musical comedy consisting of songs with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner. It was the first stage musical based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. The first stage performance of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown was in 1967, it was revived on Broadway in 1999. It was adapted for television in 1973 and 1985 and has been performed numerous times by amateur companies.
Performance history[]
You're a Good Man Charlie Brown began as a concept album, released in 1966. Gesner had been writing songs based on the Peanuts characters for some years but was unable to obtain permission from United Feature Syndicate to release them. Eventually, he sent a demo to Charles M. Schulz, who granted permission to record them. The album contained ten songs, and starred Orson Bean as Charlie Brown, Gesner as Linus, Barbara Minkus as Lucy, and Bill Hinnant as Snoopy. Gesner recorded the album with no intentions to produce a full musical, but he was encouraged to do so by producer Arthur Whitelaw (the future writer of Snoopy!!! The Musical.
Rehearsals for a full, Off-Broadway production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown began on February 10, 1967. The musical had no libretto, only consisting of several vignettes that built up to a musical number within each. Although the musical's book is credited to "John Gordon", Gesner later revealed this was actually a pen-name covering himself, the cast, and the production staff, all of them having contributed to the script. The musical opened on March 7, 1967 at Theatre 80 in the East Village, directed by Joseph Hardy with choreographer Patricia Birch, starring future M*A*S*H star Gary Burghoff as Charlie Brown, Skip Hinnant (Bill Hinnant's brother) as Schroeder, Reva Rose as Lucy, Bob Balaban as Linus, Karen Johnson as Patty, and Bill Hinnant reprising his role as Snoopy. The show's music director was future Sesame Street songwriter Joe Raposo, who also composed incidental music for the show. The production was a massive hit and ran for 1,597 performances, closing on February 14, 1971. The success of the off-Broadway production spawned nine United States touring companies, playing in such cities as Chicago, Los Angeles, Altoona, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. A 1970 U.S. tour lasted 202 performances on the road. Hardy also recreated the production at the Fortune Theatre on the West End in London in 1968, running for 116 performances. The production starred the original Toronto cast, including Don Potter as Snoopy, who would reprise his role in the original San Francisco cast of Snoopy!!! The Musical.
The production transferred to Broadway at the John Golden Theater on June 1, 1971, featuring a new cast. However, it closed on June 27 after only 15 previews and 32 performances: Mel Gussow of The New York Times felt the move to a larger Broadway theater negatively affected the production's intimate, low-tech feel.[1]
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown was adapted for television twice, as a Hallmark Hall of Fame episode which first aired on NBC on February 3, 1973 and as an animated television special which was first shown on CBS on November 6, 1985. The character of Patty was replaced by Sally Brown in the 1985 animated cartoon, as in the later Broadway revival.
A U.S. tour of the show began in 1998, with plans to develop a Broadway revival. The production was directed by Michael Mayer, who contributed additional dialogue, and music directed by Andrew Lippa, who also contributed the two new songs "Beethoven Day" and "My New Philosophy" and orchestrations. Taking inspiration from a change made by Schulz for the TV special, Patty was replaced by Sally. The cast starred Anthony Rapp as Charlie Brown, B.D. Wong as Linus, Ilana Levine as Lucy, Stanley Wayne Mathis as Schroeder, Kristin Chenoweth as Sally and Roger Bart as Snoopy. The revival opened on February 4, 1999, closing on June 13 after 14 previews and 149 performances. Though the musical was not a box office success, Chenoweth and Bart's performances were resoundingly praised, with the both earning Tony Awards in their respective categories: it is often cited as having been their breakout roles.
A US tour to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Peanuts comic strip was announced in 2019, directed by Michael Unger with new orchestration by Kim Scharnberg. Unger had previously helmed a 2016 Off-Broadway revival of the musical featuring child actors from Broadway.[2] The tour was cancelled on September 18 despite already having started auditions, due to a loss of funding.[3] Plans were made to produce it in summer 2020.[4] These plans were most likely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and no further plans have been announced.
Songs (1967 off-Broadway / 1971 Original Broadway / West End / 1970 U.S. Tour)[]
Act I[]
- "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" – Entire Company
- "Schroeder" – Lucy and Schroeder (to the tune of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata)
- "Snoopy" – Snoopy, Charlie Brown
- "My Blanket and Me" – Linus
- "Queen Lucy" – Lucy and Linus
- "The Kite" – Charlie Brown
- "The Doctor Is In" – Lucy and Charlie Brown
- "The Book Report" – Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and Schroeder
Act II[]
- "The Red Baron" – Snoopy
- "Rabbit Chasing" – Patty and Snoopy
- "T.E.A.M. (The Baseball Game)" – Entire company
- "Glee Club Rehearsal" – Entire company
- "Peanuts Potpourri" – Snoopy, Linus, and Schroeder
- "Little Known Facts" – Lucy, Linus, and Charlie Brown
- "Suppertime" – Snoopy and Charlie Brown
- "Happiness" – Entire company
- Bows – Company (includes a reprise of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown")
The songs "Rabbit Chasing" and "Glee Club Rehearsal" (which are featured in Act II) were not included in the original 1967 Off-Broadway cast recording.
Songs (1999 Broadway revival / 2016 Off-Broadway revival / 1998 U.S. Tour)[]
Act I[]
- "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" – Sung by the cast
- "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" (reprise) – Sung by Charlie Brown, Linus, and Sally (not included on the 1999 or 2016 albums).
- "Schroeder" – Sung by Lucy van Pelt (to the tune of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata).
- "Snoopy" – Sung by Snoopy
- "My Blanket and Me" – Sung by Linus van Pelt with the rest of the cast.
- "Queen Lucy" – Spoken by Lucy and Linus (not included on the 1999 or 2016 albums).
- "The Kite" – Sung by Charlie Brown with optional background by the rest of the cast.
- "The Doctor Is In" – Sung by Lucy van Pelt and Charlie Brown.
- "Peanuts Potpourri" – Sally, Linus, Snoopy, Lucy, and Schroeder (not included on the 1999 or 2016 albums).
- "Beethoven Day" – Sung by Schroeder and the rest of the cast.
- "Rabbit Chasing" – Sung by Sally and Snoopy (not included on the 1999 or 2016 albums).
- "The Book Report" – Sung by the cast.
Act II[]
- "The Red Baron" – Sung by Snoopy (not included on the 1999 album).
- "My New Philosophy" – Sung by Sally Brown and Schroeder
- "T-E-A-M (The Baseball Game)" – Sung by the cast.
- "Glee Club Rehearsal" – Sung by the cast.
- "Little Known Facts" – Sung by Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt and Charlie Brown.
- "Suppertime" – Sung by Snoopy.
- "Happiness" – Sung by the cast.
- Bows – Sung by the cast. (includes a partial reprise of "Happiness," and "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown")
Cast[]
All major productions of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown feature only a cast of six Peanuts characters. In order to round out the cast, amateur and school productions of the musical and its follow-up Snoopy!!! The Musical often add additional characters from the canon to make up an ensemble, such as Woodstock or Peppermint Patty. Jim Colleran of Concord Theatricals stated in a forum response that such changes are allowed provided no dialogue or character names are added to the production.[5]
Concept album[]
- Charlie Brown – Orson Bean
- Lucy van Pelt – Barbara Minkus
- Linus van Pelt – Clark Gesner
- Snoopy – Bill Hinnant
Original 1967 Off-Broadway production[]
- Charlie Brown – Gary Burghoff
- Lucy van Pelt – Reva Rose
- Linus van Pelt – Bob Balaban
- Schroeder – Skip Hinnant
- Patty – Karen Johnson
- Snoopy – Bill Hinnant
West End production[]
- Charlie Brown – David Rhys-Anderson
- Lucy van Pelt – Boni Enten
- Linus van Pelt – Gene Kidwell
- Schroeder – Gene Scandur
- Patty – Courtney Lane
- Snoopy – Don Potter
1968 U.S. Tour[]
- Charlie Brown – Ken Kube
- Lucy van Pelt – Ann Gibbs
- Linus van Pelt – Joel Kimmel
- Schroeder – Jonathan Hadary
- Patty – Linda Sherwood
- Snoopy – T. D. Johnston
1969 U.S. Tour[]
- Charlie Brown – Alan Lofft
- Lucy van Pelt – Minnie Gaster
- Linus van Pelt – Derek McGrath
- Schroeder – Dennis Phillips
- Patty – Marylu Moyer
- Snoopy – Grant Cowan
1970 U.S. Tour[]
- Charlie Brown – Richard Whelan
- Lucy van Pelt – Cathy Wallace
- Linus van Pelt – Vic Vail
- Schroeder – Dennis Phillips
- Patty – Marylu Moyer
- Snoopy – Grant Cowan
1971 Broadway production[]
- Charlie Brown – Dean Stolber
- Lucy van Pelt – Liz O'Neal
- Linus van Pelt – Stephen Fenning
- Schroeder – Carter Cole
- Patty – Lee Wilson
- Snoopy – Grant Cowan
- Linus, Charlie Brown, Schroeder, and Snoopy (Understudy) – Jason Holt
- Patty and Lucy (Understudy) – Merry Flershem
1999 Broadway revival[]
- Charlie Brown – Anthony Rapp
- Lucy van Pelt – Ilana Levine
- Linus van Pelt – BD Wong
- Schroeder – Stanley Wayne Mathis
- Sally Brown – Kristin Chenoweth
- Snoopy – Roger Bart
2016 Off-Broadway revival[]
- Charlie Brown – Joshua Colley
- Lucy van Pelt – Mavis Simpson-Ernst
- Linus van Pelt – Jeremy T Villas
- Schroeder – Gregory Diaz
- Sally Brown – Milly Shapiro
- Snoopy – Aidan Gemme
- Charlie Brown/Snoopy Alternate – Graydon Peter Yosowitz