If you have your own blog, you might as well toot your own horn — so here goes:
Ann Arbor Musical Theater Works (my company) presents the musical You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown on August 29-31st at the Children’s Creative Center Theater Space, 1600 Pauline, Ann Arbor, MI.
Tickets are available online at AnnArborMusicalTheaterWorks.com and are limited so get yours soon, because the theater seats only 100 per performance.
So — when Allison Pearlman posts her Lucy wig, things start to get really exciting:
Allison Pearlman plays Lucy; Colby Cesaro Spencer plays Snoopy; Hannah Pearlman plays Patty; Matthew Kurzyniec plays Linus; Andrew Buckshaw plays Charlie Brown, and Etan Klein plays Schroeder.
Its performed the way it was written back in 1967 — 6 adults playing the Peanuts characters, with geometric shapes that form set spaces, and with props and costumes filling out the rest in this “story theater” piece. Accompanied by musical director Brian Rose on the piano, its an intimate affair.
The space at 1600 Pauline is superb — three rows of seats arranged around a higher thrust stage; just right for the intimacy the show requires. I directed and choreographed this production to bring as much of it off the main stage and onto the thrust as possible — so that the audience is always “near” the characters.
Over the years, Snoopy has been played by both men and women, and in this production, I chose to go with a female snoopy — it rounds out the cast to three and three, and lends a nice balance to the songs. Since Colby is also a great tapper, it allowed me to play with tap moves in “Suppertime” along with a few other surprises.
The universal themes of Charlie Brown — fitting in, trying your hardest, making friends, stalking boyfriends (okay, maybe not the stalking part) resonate with adult audiences when played by adults in a way that the show does not when it is performed by youngsters. I kid you not, the final “Happiness is…” number brings tears to your eyes. I am not sure exactly why — maybe the adult recognizes the lost youngster within — a time when kids weren’t afraid to sing and dance, play outside, and hold your sister’s hand.
Thursday night’s 7:30 pm performance is a fundraiser with a post-show afterglow auction to benefit the University of Michigan Medical School campaign to create the Timothy R.B. Johnson M.D. Professorship in Global Women’s Health. What better match than to do a family-friendly show to raise funds for a teaching position to teach doctors to take care of women and children in developing countries. The auction items are amazing, and Susan and Mark Pearlman, and Jennifer Monk-Reising are putting together an awesome post-show event…with auction items that include trips to WDW (with airfare); other trips; UM football items, and many others! A handful of tickets remain to this special Thursday performance.
Friday and Saturday are rapidly selling tickets — moreso on Friday at 8:00 — Saturday’s show has been pushed back to 8:30 to accommodate UM’s football traffic after their late starting game that afternoon. A great day in Ann Arbor! Go to the game — grab dinner downtown, then head to 1600 Pauline for YAGMCB! Running time of the show without an intermission is 75 minutes.
Hope to see you there. This is the closest thing to a real “off-Broadway” production you are likely to see of this show in Ann Arbor for quite some time. AnnArborMusicalTheaterWorks.com
Mostly Musical Theatre 
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