You're a Good Man, is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by , based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip .

Charles Schulz’s beloved comic comes to life. The whole gang is here: bossy Lucy is hopelessly in love with piano prodigy who doesn’t give her the time of day, perfectionist Sally is still mocking blanket-toting Linus, is in the doghouse, and “blockhead,” himself, Charlie Brown, is in rare form. Brief vignettes span the months from Valentine’s Day to Beethoven Day, from wild optimism to utter despair. In this revised version, with additional music and lyrics by and dialogue by Michael Mayer, the sweet, joyful innocence of the Peanuts gang is maintained, but a fresh insouciance and playfulness is revealed. The new script features two new songs, particularly funny dialogue, and new, catchy orchestrations. Whether you’re keen to fly with the Red Baron, moon over the Moonlight Sonata, or just do your best to find “Happiness,” You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a crowd-pleasing classic.

The show opened on March 7, 1967 and played for 1,597 performances in New York at the theatre 80 St. Marks. This version was revived on Broadway in 1971 and played for 32 performances at the John Golden Theatre. A new version (YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN ([REVISED]) was presented on Broadway in 1999 and played for 149 performances at the Ambassador Theatre with award-winning performances by Roger Bart and Kristin Chenoweth as Snoopy and Sally.

With charm, wit, and heart, YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN explores life through the eyes of Charlie Brown and his friends in the Peanuts gang. This revue of songs and vignettes, based on the beloved Charles Schultz comic strip, is the ideal first show for those who would like to do a musical. Musical numbers include “My Blanket and Me,” “The Kite,” “The Baseball Game,” “,” “Suppertime,” and “Happiness.” Guaranteed to please audiences of all ages! Awards 1967 Drama Desk Award Nominations Vernon Rice-Drama Desk Award

1999 Tony Award Nominations Best Featured Actor in a Musical - Roger Bart Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Kristin Chenoweth Best Revival of a Musical Best Direction of a Musical

1999 Drama Desk Award Nominations Outstanding Revival of a Musical Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical - Roger Bart Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical - Kristin Chenoweth Outstanding Director of a Musical Outstanding Set Design of a Musical

Auditions Auditions will be held January 16 & 17, 2018 from 7-9pm at the high school in either the Auditorium or in the Music Room (TBD).

Rehearsal Schedule Rehearsals will be held only on Mondays and Wednesdays weekly, with additional rehearsals on Tuesdays interspersed as needed. The tentative schedule:  January 22, 24, 29 & 31  February 5, 7, 12, 13, 26 & 27  March 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26 & 28  April 2, 4, 9, 11, 23, 25 & 30  May 2, 7 (Tech), 8 & 9 (Dress Rehearsals) Rehearsals are held in the evenings from 7-9:30pm, and will begin January 22, 2018. As of right now, there will be no rehearsals scheduled during February and April vacation weeks. Performances

 May 11 (7pm); May 12 (2pm & 7pm); May 13 (2pm)… FYI: This is Mother’s Day

Base Characters:

1. Charlie Brown 2. 3.

Female / Supporting / Soprano Female / Lead / Mezzo- Male / Lead /Baritone Soprano 4. 5. Schroeder 6. Snoopy

Male / Supporting / Baritone Male / Supporting / Tenor Neutral / Supporting / Tenor

Additional Ensemble Characters to be incorporated*

7. 8. Peppermint 9.

10. Pigpen 11. (The Little Red-haired Girl) 12. Blanket #1 13. Blanket #2 14. Blanket #3 15. The Red Baron 16. Ensemble Members (5)… Actors with no lines but lots of stage time singing/performing. Ensemble will be incorporated into scenes whenever possible, even if not vocally.

Musical Numbers

 You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown… Full Cast  Schroeder… Lucy & Schroeder (in silence)  Snoopy… Snoopy & Woodstock  My Blanket and Me… Linus & Back Up Blankets  The Kite… Charlie Brown w/Ensemble  The Doctor is In… Lucy & Charlie Brown w/Ensemble  Book Report… Lucy, Linus, Schroeder & Charlie Brown w/Ensemble  The Red Baron… Snoopy & The Red Baron  T.E.A.M./The Baseball Game… Full Cast  Glee Club Rehearsal… Lucy, Patty, Linus, Schroeder, Charlie Brown, Snoopy & Ensemble  Little Known Facts… Lucy & Ensemble  Suppertime… Snoopy  Happiness… Full Cast

What to Prepare for the Audition For auditions, students will be taught part of a couple different songs, which you will have to sing in front of other people. There will also be line readings, a couple theatre games and a simple dance audition. If you would like to “plan ahead”…

 For Leading/Base Characters: Prepare to sing “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown  For Supporting Characters: Prepare to sing “Happiness”

Notes:

 Ideally, auditioners are asked to attend BOTH NIGHTS of auditions.  8th graders are welcome to participate with the understanding that high school students will be given primary role preference.  If you want to be considered for the show but you do NOT want to sing in front of other people, that’s fine… but understand you will not be considered for a featured role.

Expectations You are expected :

 to be at all rehearsals when/if called.  to learn your material and be prepared for all rehearsals you are called for.  to participate in the promotion and publicity of the show (i.e., sending email invites, hanging posters, posting lawn signs, etc.)  to be a team player 100%. This is totally an ensemble show and any dissent in there will be detrimental to the production.  to consider the show an equal priority to any and all other extra-curricular activities. If you cannot – don’t audition.  to be available and in attendance at all Tech Week Rehearsals, not to mention the subsequent shows themselves (May 5-13, 2018). Synopsis

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 own 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’s 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.

-Clark Gesner