You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Life can be brutal when you're 8 years old. That's something Charles M. Schulz recognized when he first penned the Peanuts comic strip back in 1950, in doing so, creating one of the world's most beloved losers: Charlie Brown. The Prague Playhouse's rendition of spin-off musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown has its cast don oversize clothes and channel their inner children in order to pull off an adorable rendition of the Clark Gesner production.

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown isn't a play so much as a collection of bite-size cartoon skits - as if someone's snipped out the best of Schulz's work and stuck it onstage with accompanying music. Though this may sound slapdash, in fact the result is a delightfully bright and breezy collage that whisks you back to distant memories of childhood: unfounded paranoia, heartache and even the odd snatch of happiness.

Although there are a couple of matinées with kids in mind, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is very much one for the grownups, a wry reminder of peanut-butter sandwiches for lunch (again), the inability to talk to that Little Red-Haired Girl in the corner of the playground and the general feeling that the whole world is out to get you.

In the lead of lugubrious Charlie Brown is Brian Caspe, returning to the role after a 1998 performance in the same musical, and looking very much at home in that famous yellow polo shirt with the black zigzag. Weird as it sounds, Caspe cuts a cuddlesome figure; his fervent questioning and self-contempt is cute and credible, and when he gazes into the distance with glazed eyes or breaks into solo ditties like bittersweet "The Kite," you could almost run onto the stage and give him a hug. As with every cast member, Caspe is so immersed in the role that after 5 minutes, you've forgotten you're watching a bunch of adults.

Charlie Brown's polar opposite is Lindsay Stewart's "crabby" little nightmare, Lucy, who'll have you reaching for the earplugs with her habitual tantrum-throwing, denunciations and dubious note-pitching (Stewart's Queens Off-Broadway performance earlier this year proved the vocal range is there, should she choose to use it). In the diva-in-miniature, Stewart is ideally cast - such a psychotic smirk hasn't been brandished since A Clockwork Orange - while she astutely mimics her character's specious nature in "The Doctor Is In," which sees Lucy assuming the role of psychiatrist and concluding, "Whatever it's worth, Charlie Brown, you're you." Comforting stuff.

The most lovable rug rat of the lot is lisping intellectual Linus (Jay DeYonker). His highbrowed musings, e.g. an exhaustive book report on Peter Rabbit, are somewhat tarnished by a dependency on his blanket, which is even honored with its own musical number - another highlight of the show.  

Least recognizable from the Peanuts cartoons is daydreaming mutt Snoopy, played here by Caryn Stringer. With frizzed-up hairdo, white sports pants and no Papier-maché headpiece in sight, her appearance takes a bit of getting used to, but she actually winds-up a real crowd-pleaser, coming into her own with a neatly choreographed "Suppertime," the razzle-dazzle ode to Snoopy's favorite time of day.

Though Malé Vinohradské divadlo may look like the set for a kids' TV show (festooned as it is with cutout trees and clouds), and though Gesner's score is as frolicsome as something you might hear coming from an ice cream van, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown never runs the risk of being sickly. That's because at the heart of it remains Schulz's cynical wit, deadpan delivery and a healthy dose of melancholy.

First-night teething troubles were little more than a lighting operator with itchy fingers (a couple of times, the actors were left pre-emptively in the dark); this aside, the Prague Playhouse has delivered a production both slick and endearing. Long may Charlie Brown remain 8 years old, and long may he continue to be the cutest miserablist that ever was.

Will Noble can be reached at
wnoble@praguepost.com