Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Sally, Snoopy, and that adorable blockhead Charlie Brown provide a terrific triple-threat talent showcase for six Cal State Fullerton Musical Theater BFA majors in the delightful song-and-sketch cycle You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Newspaper comics fave Charlie Brown had already been around for seventeen years and starred in a pair of animated TV specials when the musical bearing his name made its off-Broadway debut way back in 1967.

West End and Broadway runs followed, along with countless regional, community, and school productions before the Peanuts returned to the Broadway stage in the 1999 Best Revival Tony winner, a big-stage revisal featuring a much-tweaked book (by Clark Gesner with additional dialog by Mayer) and a few new songs (courtesy of its Broadway director Michael Mayer and Broadway songwriter Andrew Lippa).

Gesner and Mayer’s book gives us a series of sketches that do precisely what they set out to do, i.e. replicate Charles M. Schulz’s 4-panel daily strips and their 10-panel Sunday counterparts in short vignettes, each with its own punch line.

All the favorite Peanuts themes are there, with the conspicuous exception of the unfailingly hilarious football gag.

There’s Charlie’s (Evan Borboa) infatuation with the Little Red-Haired Girl, Linus’s (Jacob Wayne) inability to function without his blanket, Lucy’s (Kiana King) crush on Schroeder (Timothy H. Lee) and her side-job as a 5-¢-per-consultation shrink, Sally’s (Corinn Szotkiewicz) difficulties with tangled jump ropes and coat-hanger sculptures, and Snoopy’s (Seann Altman) fantasy life as The Red Baron, to name just a few.

Many of these situations find their expression in song (music and lyrics by Genser), from Linus’s “My Blanket And Me,” which has him attempting in vain to “walk away and leave it,” to “The Doctor Is In,” which has Lucy forcing Charlie Brown to list his multitude of failings, to Charlie Brown’s signature song, the now classic “Happiness.”

Lippa’s contributions are some of the show’s best, including Schroeder attempts to convince his pals to fete his all-time favorite composer with a holiday in The R&B “Beethoven Day.”

Even better is Sally’s “My New Philosophy,” of which she has several, including, “Oh, yeah. That’s what you think?” and “Why are you telling me?”

All of this adds up to two hours of musical theater magic, and with Eve Himmelheber directing her ace cast on the thrust stage of CSUF’s Arena Theatre, whose intimacy requires no amplification whatsoever, performances could not be more winning or spot-on.

Borboa transitions from the dreamiest of Disney princes in last year’s The Little Mermaid to Mr. Low Self-Esteem himself, his golden-throated Charlie making for the most lovable loser in town.

King takes Lucy to whole new levels of crabbiness without losing an iota of cuteness along the way, her “Little Known Facts” proving a particular treat.

Wayne’s Linus is not only the sweetest and gentlest of little brothers, “My Blanket and Me” allows the graduating senior to show off Fred Astaire footwork with his baby-blue blankie as Ginger.

Lee’s Schroeder gives Lucy plenty to pine over to the strains of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata while revealing some terrific tenor pipes and piano fingering as well.

Szostkiewicz is half Kristin Chenoweth, half Sutton Foster, and one-hundred percent adorable as Sally, her “My New Philosophy” proving ever bit the showstopper it’s intended to be.

Most memorable of all is Altman’s attitude-and-all star turn as Snoopy, a role he reinvents to fabulicious perfection whether singing/dancing the praises of “Suppertime” or imagining himself downing enemy aircraft from his doghouse rooftop.

Musical director Corey Hirsch provides expert keyboard accompaniment throughout in addition to coaching the cast’s all-around terrific vocals.

A stageful of giant-sized primary-colored blocks, Snoopy’s doghouse, and six Peanuts-perfect costumes are vividly lit by Lauren Zuiderfeld, while Fernando Pacheco provides a topnotch sound design.

Brett Beard is assistant director. Iliana Solorzano is stage manager and Anthony Ayala, Emmitte Keele, and Theresa Mendivil are assistant stage managers.

Like many a Cal State Fullerton musical theater major before them, the cast of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown are heading towards successful careers in regional theater, national tours, and maybe even the Great White Way like 2014 grad Devon Hadsell, now one of Broadway’s Mean Girls. Oh, and the show they’re currently starring in is as delightful as intimate musicals get.

Arena Theatre California State University Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton.
www.fullerton.edu/arts/theatre/events/td_productions.php

–Steven Stanley
March 27, 2019
Photos: Emily Ploense

Tags: Andrew Lippa, Cal State Fullerton, Charles M. Schulz, Clark Gesner, Michael Mayer, Orange County Theater Review