"You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" at Artistry

Happiness is... watching six legends of #TCTheater stages personifying beloved Peanuts characters. In Artistry's new production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, these legends bring all of their wisdom and experience to their roles, yet tap into that childlike spirit that is inside all of us. This is a deceptively simple little musical that truly feels like the comic strips come to life with its short and often unrelated scenes, but it's also kind of profound, in the way it deals with those important lessons we learn in childhood. Lessons about friendship, self-esteem, disappointment, working together. The last time I saw this show was almost 15 years ago in this very space by a version of this theater company then known as Bloomington Civic Theatre, starring a bunch of young up-and-coming actors. It truly is happiness to experience it again now, ingeniously cast with actors age 60+. Because the older you get, the more poignant these life lessons become, and the more you appreciate the simple happinesses in life.

The musical is constructed of a series of short scenes, some less than a minute, some maybe five or ten minutes. We jump from one to the next over the course of one day in the life of Charlie Brown and his friends (and dog). Some plot points are revisited (Charlie Brown's crush on the little red-headed girl), some are stand-alone scenes. You can almost picture the comic strip version of each scene. The beauty of the show (which began as a concept album) is that it doesn't try to create some elaborate story for these characters, it just lets them speak for themselves through the familiar themes from the comics.

Artistry's Artistic Director Kelli Foster Warder directed and choreographed this show, as she did that other sweet and profound "kid's show" currently playing at Mixed Blood Theatre - Into the Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Tale. Both shows are so sweet and playful and endlessly endearing, this one with a bit of the bittersweet in Charlie Brown's daily difficulties. The choreography fits the story and characters; these characters move and dance in the adorably awkward way that kids do (with a brief recreation of the iconic dancing from the Charlie Brown Christmas special).

photo by Roosevelt Mansfield

Everyone in this six-person cast is a legend of local stages whom I have enjoyed watching for years, sometimes decades (click on each actor's name to read about other shows I've seen them in over the years). And they're all so perfectly cast, and are having so much fun as they re-discover and bring out their child selves through the show. Jay Albright is so perfect as the sad sack Charlie Brown, with just the right about of melancholy and defeatedness, but also a little bit of hope. Michelle Barber is adorably perky as the brutally honest Sally (the role that won Kristin Chenoweth her Tony). Tod Petersen is so charming as Linus, the most intelligent and eloquent thumb-sucking child you'll meet. Jen Santoro Rotty fully embodies the spark and confidence of Lucy, crushing on JoeNathan Thomas' piano-playing Beethoven-loving Schroeder. Last but not least, Bradley Greenwald has the Snoopy stance and facial expressions down pat, and speaks in barks and growls to the humans, but to us, he sings in a gorgeous voice that belies his animal nature. Or maybe that's what all dogs sound like in their heads.

The show opens with each character standing in front of a colorblock sign with their name on it, behind which sits the band (conducted by Sanford Moore, with Jason Hansen as Music Director and Orchestrator). The oversized set pieces look just like the cartoon - Snoopy's doghouse, a giant chair, Lucy's psychiatrist window, as do the colorful childlike costumes that make these grown-ups look so cute! (Set design by Kelli Foster Warder and Artistry's Director of Production Katie Phillips, with Britt Hilton as costume coordinator to bring this iconic 2D looks to 3D.)

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown is a show about kids that appeals to adults too, especially with this cast of actors in their prime! And it beautifully brings the beloved comic strips and cartoons to life, with the life lessons and simple joys of childhood, that are good to remember and tap into as adults. See it at Bloomington Center for the Arts through October 25.