You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown

After 60 years Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society (EUCMS) has faced the challenge of a changing its name to Beacon Musical Society. It’s a big decision which they are facing with “courage and optimism” just like the five-year-old characters in Charles M. Schulz’s whimsical comic strip “Peanuts”.  Like Snoopy, they will face the “Red Barons” of community theatre – rising rents, falling ticket sales, finding willing helpers – in a Sopwith Camel biplane of hope and enthusiasm.

So, what better show to take them on this new journey than You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown – a musical that sings about all the little things that Happiness can be. Whether it’s “two kinds of ice cream” or seeing and hearing an audience smiling and laughing or depicting the joyful innocent resilience of five-year-olds, this musical shines as a bright Beacon for this buoyant company.

“Good grief!” is it really 75 years since Schulz created Charlie Brown and his five-year-old friends whose philosophical acceptance of who they were and what life means charmed the world? Director Penny Wilson points out that “Peanuts” was “well ahead of its time, addressing issues of discrimination, mental health issues, self-image, resilience and relationships.” That it did so gently through the eyes of children – and a dog – meant it didn’t need to be “sharp, witty or cynical” and, as this colourful production shows, it is still as meaningful as it was 75 years ago.

Wilson and her directorial team – Musical Director Bec Kimpton, Choreographer Allie Butler and their very dedicated Production Manager Caroline Reddel – have approached this production with the same “eyes-wide-open optimism” of Schulz’ characters. They have infused the production with colour and cheer on a comic book set and bright graphics designed by Brendan McGrath and lit by the creative Wayne Chee.

The bright palette of colour in costumes of the iconic characters, have been picked up by wardrobe director Ros Moore and extended to the ensemble, where pretty dresses, lacy knickers and hardy dungarees take the adult performers back to a time of homework and book reports and lost pencils and “tying your shoelace for the very first time”.

In Charlie Brown’s bright yellow T shirt with its black zigzag stripe, Andy Miles plays a wide-eyed, perplexed Charlie Brown. He makes Charlie hesitant, bemused but still positive. He makes him caring and gentle and humble, and the audience reach out to his naivety and his love for his trusty beagle, Snoopy, whose philosophical whimsy has become as popular with GenZ as it was to generations past.

Beacon’s Snoopy is played Leo O’Donoghue, who injects his character with laid back physicality, wry words of wisdom and infectious fun, especially when it’s “Suppertime”. Whether lying atop his kennel contemplative the clouds or in his red scarf flying the Sopwith Camel, O’Donoghue’s Snoopy is lovably devoted, loyal and loves “Rabbit Chasing”.

Alisha Aggarwal finds her inner feisty self as over-confident, bossy, comically mean Lucy Van Pelt. Aggarwal, dressed of course in blue, has Lucy’s hand-on-hips, Queen Lucy posturing down to a “T” whether making eyes at Schroeder, analysing poor Charlie Brown in “The Doctor is In” or confusing her insightful little brother Linus with some questionable “Little Known Facts”.

Linus is played beguilingly by Josh Wilson, who finds the wise philosopher behind the boy and his blanket. Wilson makes Linus gently believable – especially in “My Blanket and Me” where he teams with soft, satin-trimmed-blanket clad Saher Hashmi-Khan in a cuddle-some dance routine. Hashmi-Khan returns to the stage later as a fleet-footed, sneaky Peter Rabbit with Snoopy and Charlie’s sister Sally.

Sally is cute and querisome! She’s not about to accept a “D” for her homework – and Ayla Gortan makes that very clear in a delightful depiction of this pert little character in red and white with her skipping rope and her “Oh Yeah? That’s what you think?” outlook on life.

Christopher Melotti as Schroeder dwarfs his little toy piano as he pays tribute to Beethoven. Melotti’s expressive face and careful control of the character find that extraordinary obsessiveness that kids develop for the things that become special to them.

There’s also Snoopy’s little avian friend Woodstock – and grubby Pigpen “cloaked in the dust of countless ages’ – as well a strong chorus who are intrinsic to the atmosphere of childlike joy that Wilson and Kimpton have inspired in this production. It is a reverent salute to the long history of EUCMS – and augurs well for a similarly long and exciting history under its new name.

Congratulations Beacon Musical Society … Happiness is singing together … and those that you sing to!

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Abby Moyes