Theater review: Some lightness might be good, Charlie Brown

It is easy to fall in love with “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown,” because as a stage production it lives up to your nostalgia: you grew up with the original Charles Schulz comic strip, and here it is before your eyes, colorful, larger than life, and with catchy music to boot. The nostalgia is helped along by the fact that instead of a strictly linear narrative, it’s a set of vignettes, with the thin thread of Charlie Brown getting over his insecurities tying it together.

 

What this simplicity belies of course is this truth: “Peanuts” was the comic strip that traversed storytelling for children and the philosophical/essentialist/universal notions of selfhood for adults. And there’s no better way to be reminded of what we (used to) believe about the world than through “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Right here is reason enough to go and see it. 

 

Though I might hold off on bringing the already insecure little boy.   

Because while we expect Charlie Brown to be the anti-hero given his lack of skill and talent, in this Manila production there’s a layer of sadness in him that’s just surprisingly consistent, one that isn’t balanced out when he sings the musicale’s anthem “Happiness,” one that you just can’t shake off a week after seeing the show. It could be the fact that Manila’s Charlie Brown (Robbie Guevara) is visibly older than any of the four other actors onstage, which might not matter as much if there was a lightness to his portrayal of Charlie Brown. 

 

This lightness is what allows for the complexity in Charlie Brown as a character. On the one hand he’s an overly insecure boy who can’t seem to fit in, on the other his spirit is bigger than any of the other four kids in his team; on the one hand nothing seems to go right for him, on the other he perseveres. But this complexity is lost in Guevara’s portrayal, as the larger image he allows of Charlie Brown is that of his being victim, the bullied boy who comes off almost as a depressive character. Here, there is no reason to root for Charlie Brown, and in the end that title barely made sense: why exactly do we begin and end with Charlie Brown being a good man again? 

 

Yet this Manila production has that younger-than-Guevara cast going for it, which is also a more competent set of singers compared to Charlie Brown. Though it must be said that there was something too gay for comfort in that solo number of Linus (Franco Laurel) dancing with his blanket, and there was also very little charm in Lucy (Carla Guevara-Laforteza) which rendered her more of a bully to Charlie Brown’s bullied. But Guevara-Laforteza’s Lucy does hit the right amounts of irritating and charming in “Schroeder” which allowed for the first instances of fun and funny in the production.

 

Which would be provided the rest of the time by Sally Brown (Sweet Plantado-Tiongson) who actually holds the spirit of innocent intelligence that is the premise of this production and Schulz’s original “Peanuts” strip. Here, Sally’s vignettes are the more philosophical ones, as they too are the most playful, from jump-roping to futility and searching for rabbits, to arguing with the teacher about the reasons behind her C in art class. In “My New Philosophy” Plantado-Tiongson is able to come into her own in a space and voice that elsewhere in the world has meant a Tony Award for Kristin Chenoweth. Big shoes to fill, which in this case is large enough to fill that theater, too.   

But probably the best performances here come from Snoopy (Lorenz Martinez) and Schroeder (Tonipet Gaba). The latter’s popular TV persona belies a voice that’s spirited and serious in equal turns, and which in the role of Schroeder just provides the soul that’s needed on this and every musical theater stage. Gaba’s also the one actor who’s able to do childlike innocence better than the rest of this cast, where the acting isn’t superficial in terms of using a high-pitched voice or doing childish intonation, and instead is stance and spirit that is childhood personified. 

 

Ah but it is Martinez as Snoopy that brings the house down. Here is a performance that does justice to the dynamic of being friendly-man’s-best-friend and dog-left-out-in-the-cold-waiting-for-food-and-attention. Here is a showcase of Martinez’s skills that isn’t just about a singing voice that’s perfect for Snoopy’s two solos, as it is also about the snazziness and swagger that “Suppertime” requires and the impeccable comic timing that can handle the irony of being a dog who speaks, sings, dances, and yet is really just an animal. 

 

Between Martinez and Gaba, and let’s throw in Plantado-Tiongson for good measure, “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” is a production worth seeing for its display of Pinoy talent. And then there’s the delicate balance between childlike innocence and adult philosophical crises that Schulz continues to treat us to, through–and despite–the years, and this is still time in the theater well-spent. The saddest and most depressive of Charlie Browns notwithstanding. –KG, GMA News

 

“You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” is a 9 Works Theatrical Production directed by Michael Williams, with music, lyrics and book by Clark Gesner. The production is based on Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip “Peanuts.” Playdates are on Feb. 25 and 26, and Mar. 2 and 3 at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City. For inquiries, visit www.9workstheatrical.com or call TicketWorld at (632) 891-9999. Katrina Stuart Santiago writes the essay in its various permutations, from pop culture criticism to art reviews, scholarly papers to creative non-fiction, all always and necessarily bound by Third World Philippines, its tragedies and successes, even more so its silences. She blogs at http://www.radikalchick.com. The views expressed in this article are solely her own.